The NLD may have a supermajority in both houses, but recent appointments are a reminder that the party wants to keep the generals close.
Since the National League for Democracy (NLD) took power in 2016, the administration has given senior positions to a number of ex-military officers, opposition party members, and other outsiders.
The appointment last month of retired colonel U Min Thu as minister to the Office of the Union Government is the latest sign that Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD is, in its own way, sticking to its manifesto of pledge of supporting “national reconciliation.”
Of 50 members in the President U Win Myint’s cabinet, just 11 are from among the ranks of the NLD, while four hail from the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. Another six are directly appointed by the military, as per the constitution, while the rest are non-party affiliated figures, some of whom are alumni of the old military regime.
Here is a list, in order of seniority*, of some of the former foes and outsiders serving in Aung San Suu Kyi’s government. It does not include anyone in the six military-appointed ministerial positions.
The alleged militiaman: T Khun Myat - Speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw (Union Rank 5)
T Khun Myat, an ethnic Kachin from Shan State, was promoted from deputy speaker to speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw (or lower house) when U Win Myint left the position to become President in March.
The speaker, who is also known as Jeffrey, has been identified by the Shan Herald Agency for News as the alleged leader of a Kutkai-based people’s militia that was involved in the illegal drug trade. He has denied the reports though.
A lawyer by training, T Khun Myat was the lead member of the national convention that drafted the military’s 2008 constitution while serving as Director General for the Attorney General’s Office.
He became a Pyithu Hluttaw lawmaker for the USDP in the 2010 election, winning in Kutkai constituency, and was chair of the Pyithu Hluttaw bill committee. He was considered very close to ex-USDP chair and Aung San Suu Kyi’s most important ally Thura Shwe Mann.
Although he was re-elected as a USDP representative for the same constituency in 2015 and later resigned from the party, he became deputy speaker with NLD support.
The man on the bench: Htun Htun Oo - Union Chief Justice (Union Rank 7)
U Htun Htun Oo has been a captain in Southwestern Regional Military Command and a major in the Office of the Military Advocate General. He served as Myanmar’s deputy chief justice from 2007 to 2011.
He was nominated as Chief Justice by President Thein Sein in February 2011. Although he became the chief justice before the NLD took power, it is notable that an ex-military officer holds the highest judicial position in the country during the NLD’s term.
The 62-year-old will serve for another 8 years until he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70.
The ex-spin doctor: Thein Swe - Minister of Labour, Immigration and Population (Union Rank 14)
U Thein Swe, another ex-military officer, served as spokesperson for the USDP and was close to former party chair Thura Shwe Mann. He was also the minister of transport during military rule. In 2015 he became the Pyithu Hluttaw representative for Ann Township in Rakhine.
In May, a businessman referred Thein Swe to the Anti-Corruption Commission, alleging that he had collected improper extra charges from Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand to issue ID certificates, Nyang News Media reported. He denied rumours that he was being investigated by the Commission, local 7Day Daily reported in June. An anti-corruption commissioner did not comment on this although another commissioner admitted that Thein Swe’s name was among those referred in the complaint letters President Win Myint had referred to the Commission.
The minister and the monks: Thura Aung Ko - Minister of Religious Affairs and Culture (Union Rank 14)
A former brigadier-general in the Tatmadaw, Thura Aung Ko also used to be a member of the Central Executive Committee of the USDP.
He was the Deputy Minister for Religious Affairs when the military government was in power, and was included in a 2003 list of officials subject to visa bans and asset freezes by the EU.
He won the 2010 election for Kanpetlet constituency in Chin State, and became the chair of parliamentary judicial complaints committee.
During his tenure as an MP, he openly pledged to remove corrupt judges and actively pushed to amend the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law to remove a clause that prohibits protesting without permission.
Like other USDP figures who have been embraced by the NLD, he was close to Shwe Mann, and helped get himself in the NLD’s good books by negotiating to include them in 2012 by-election. Although he lost his seat in the 2015 general elections, the NLD government appointed him as the Minister of Religious Affairs and Culture.
As the man responsible for declaring anti-Muslim Ma Ba Tha unlawful last year, at least nominally, he has drawn the ire of Buddhist nationalists.
But he has also been accused of intolerance himself: last month he appeared to label the Islamic faith as “extreme” during a speech at the funeral ceremony of Myaing Gyi Ngu Sayadaw, a respected ethnic Karen Buddhist monk who had substantial influence over a Karen ethnic armed group as well as over many Karen Buddhists.
The generals’ diplomat: Kyaw Tint Swe - Union Minister of the State Counsellor’s Office (Union Rank 14)
The 73-year-old U Kyaw Tint Swe is not an ex-military official, but he served as a diplomat for many terms under successive military governments.
He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1968, and served as Myanmar’s ambassador to Israel, Malaysia, Germany, Thailand and Japan.
From 2001 to 2010, he was the Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, where he defended the military government against accusations of widespread human rights violations.
He was also the vice-chair of the National Human Rights Commission under President Thein Sein’s government, and a member of the Letpadaung Investigation Commission, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, to inquire the controversial Chinese-backed copper mine project in central Myanmar in 2013.
‘Don’t rock the boat’: Thaung Tun - Minister of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations (Union Rank 14)
In the mid-2000s, while Aung San Suu Kyi was still under house arrest, U Thaung Tun warned that she “must not rock the boat” by protesting the junta-led national constitutional convention.
The State Counsellor clearly shares his penchant for putting stability above partisanship; Thaung Tun was recently appointed minister of the newly-established Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations.
The posting follows roles as National Security Advisor, which he took up in early 2017, and chair of the Myanmar Investment Commission, which he took up in June.
Thaung Tun joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1972, and served as a diplomat in many countries under the military regime. He made the comment about Aung San Suu Kyi while he was Myanmar’s ambassador to the Philippines in 2006.
The man with wings: Min Thu - Minister of the Office of the Union Government (Union Rank 14)
A trained pilot, U Min Thu retired from his post as a colonel in the Myanmar Air Force in the early 2000s, later flying passenger jets for local airlines.
He has a bachelor’s degree in Science from the Defence Services Academy, and a master’s in defence studies, according to his profile released by the president’s office. He became a member of the USDP after leaving the military.
After being appointed deputy minister of the Office of the President in May 2016, he accompanied the state counsellor to diplomatic functions and on foreign trips. He was promoted to his current position in order to fill the vacancy left by Thaung Tun last month.
Sources close to the minister said Min Thu and his wife, attorney Lwin May Thein, have long had a close relationship with Aung San Suu Kyi.
U Htin Kyaw’s AG: Tun Tun Oo - Union Attorney-General (Union Rank 15)
U Tun Tun Oo, a former major general in the Tatmadaw, was appointed union attorney-general by then President Htin Kyaw in March 2016.
Under Thein Sein’s government, he served as deputy attorney general, and was appointed as chair to draft two of the four controversial race and religion laws.
The graft guy who catches small fish: Aung Kyi - Chair of the Anti-Corruption Commission (no union rank)
Another former Tatmadaw major general, U Aung Kyi served as labour minister during military rule. After the monks-led Saffron Revolution in 2007, he was appointed as a minister without portfolio to help mediate between Senior General Than Shwe and Aung San Suu Kyi.
Although he met with Aung San Suu Kyi nine times while in this role, talks were strained as the Tatmadaw refused to compromise as The Lady protested the 2008 constitution and the 2010 general elections.
U Aung Kyi served as information minister from 2012 to 2014 in President Thein Sein’s cabinet, and has been chair of the Anti-Corruption Commission since November 2017.
Since taking the position, he has taken action against some corrupt low and medium ranked government officials. But he has openly said that the commission could not investigate corrupt military officers due to a clause in the constitution.
The President who never was: Thura Shwe Mann - Chair of the Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission (no union rank)
Former general Thura Shwe Mann, arguably Aung San Suu Kyi’s most important military-linked ally, was once the third most senior member of the military government and the right-hand man of Senior General Than Shwe.
He graduated from the Defence Services Academy, Intake 11, and was quickly promoted to top government positions as he commanded a number of victorious battles.
He closely monitored the purge of Intelligence Chief General Khin Nyunt in 2004, and once declared that “no one is above the law.” He was also considered an important official for relations with North Korea during military rule.
He resigned from his military position before the 2010 election, and won the election as a USDP representative for Zeyarthiri constituency in Nay Pyi Taw. Despite persistent pre-election rumours that he would become the first post-junta era president, Than Shwe chose Thein Sein over him, and he only managed to bag a role as the speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw.
Following some NLD MPs’ arrival to parliament in 2012, military hardliners appear unimpressed with Shwe Mann’s relationship with Aung San Suu Kyi. And she is believed to regularly take his advice regarding the relations with military.
Many assume his dramatic ouster from the USDP chair position in 2015 was a result of his close relationship with the NLD leader.
Although he has not secured a union rank position under the NLD government, he is still a powerful politician as he was appointed chair of the Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission created by the NLD government.
*List compiled according to the union ranks given in the state gazette.
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