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Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing (left) inspects troops through the seventy fifth Myanmar Independence Day Grand Navy Overview parade in Naypyitaw on Jan. 4, 2023, simply as navy proxy president U Thein Sein (proper) did in 2015. / AFP
By The Irrawaddy 6 January 2023
Myanmar navy regime chief Min Aung Hlaing’s mania for the presidency is more and more unchecked and, infuriatingly for the Myanmar folks, grows extra seen with every passing day.
In current days, they’ve cringed on the sight of the coup chief wearing presidential apparel handing out decorations to those that have earned his favor, at commemorations of New Yr and the nation’s seventy fifth Independence Day. Then, he attended a grand navy evaluate, placing on airs and posing because the nation’s official president.
Of their eyes, Min Aung Hlaing has by no means been the nation’s chief. Quite, they see him as merely a nasty impostor who grabbed energy from the elected Nationwide League for Democracy (NLD) authorities in a navy takeover and started committing atrocities, together with air strikes in opposition to civilians, killing greater than 2,600 folks thus far for rejecting his rule.
Formally, Min Aung Hlaing has not but been capable of name himself Myanmar’s president—constitutionally, the holder of that place have to be elected to it by the nation’s parliament. In actual fact, he got here to energy by way of a coup that successfully abolished the legislature.
However he has lengthy been, and stays, determined to be the president. That’s why he staged a coup in opposition to the NLD regardless of social gathering chief Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s supply to him of the vice presidency, or a brand new publish as chairman of the Navy Fee.
Proper after the coup, he moved straight into the Presidential Residence.
Then, he tried to deceive the world by appointing himself prime minister, preferring to be considered a civilian chief, fairly than the pinnacle of a coup, whereas sustaining the navy chief positon. Since then he has hardly ever been seen in uniform. As a substitute, he jumped into presidential apparel to greet incoming diplomats in entrance of the Sihasana Palin, or Lion Throne, an emblem of Myanmar’s sovereignty, in imitation of the nation’s earlier presidents.
His mania for the presidency moved into excessive gear final 12 months when he presided over a grand navy evaluate in February, following within the footsteps of ex-president Thein Sein, a former basic. Briefly, Min Aung Hlaing has completed virtually every part that Myanmar monarchs and presidents historically do—from his reverence for white elephants and obsession with rubies, to constructing and consecrating pagodas and churning out honorary titles.
Throughout the grand navy evaluations and ceremonies to confer titles, he has worn the Salwel, a sash that is among the regalia of the Myanmar president, mimicking the pose of Thein Sein when the latter was sworn in as president on the Parliament in 2011.
Min Aung Hlaing plans to carry a basic election in August—a should if he’s to convene the Parliament and be elected president of Myanmar.
In his speeches to mark New Yr and the seventy fifth anniversary of Independence Day, Min Aung Hlaing due to this fact confused that his regime is working exhausting to carry the election nationwide, ignoring the truth that his regime is shedding floor in lots of components of the nation.
Min Aung Hlaing might nonetheless push forward along with his plan and order the Union Election Fee appointed by him to postpone the voting in some electorates, citing safety causes.
Taking no probabilities, he has additionally suppressed the Nationwide League for Democracy (NLD)—which he nonetheless sees as a menace, even after imprisoning its chief, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi—and is within the technique of changing the first-past-the-post electoral system with proportional illustration to make sure there isn’t any landslide victory for a single social gathering.
Min Aung Hlaing additionally put in Khin Yi, who served as police chief beneath the earlier regime and is understood for his brutal crackdown on activists who protested in opposition to it, as chairman of the navy’s proxy Union Solidarity and Growth Celebration (USDP). The social gathering has been making strikes to solidify its place forward of the deliberate ballot.
With the NLD boycotting the election, the USDP is more likely to win a majority within the Parliament. With 25 p.c of seats constitutionally reserved for the navy, Min Aung Hlaing’s dream appears set to change into a actuality, as USDP members and navy appointees would vote for him to change into president.
In the meantime, Min Aung Hlaing is required beneath the structure at hand energy again to the Nationwide Protection and Safety Council (NDSC) on the finish of this month. The election have to be held inside six months of that date. To take care of the navy’s grip on energy forward of its plan for a so-called election in August, he would type a “transition council” beneath his management.
All of which ensures that navy rule is not going to actually finish in six months, or past the deliberate election, which he’ll use to legitimize his presidency by any means.
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