Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing was sworn in as president on Friday (10th April), AFP journalists saw, continuing his rule from a civilian post five years after seizing power in a military coup.
As the nation’s armed forces chief, Min Aung Hlaing ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and triggering a civil war. After five years, he organised an election concluding in January, excluding her party and securing a walkover win for military allies in civilian politics who backed him into the top office.
A triumphant parliamentary ceremony in the sprawling capital Naypyidaw saw the 69-year-old read aloud the presidential oath promising to “strive for further flourishing the eternal principles of justice, liberty and equality.”
“I will dedicate myself to the service of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar,” he said, starting his five-year term.
Min Aung Hlaing had resigned as top general to take over as president of the new government. Democracy watchdogs, however, deride the transition as a rebranding of military rule in an unconvincing civilian disguise. More than two-thirds of his 30 ministers, also sworn in Friday, are either retired or serving members of the military, a similar proportion served in the post-coup junta leadership, and more than ten have been subject to international sanctions.
AFP reporters saw bomb squads patrolling Naypyidaw hotels ahead of the ceremony, with parliament sequestered by rings of checkpoints.
Myanmar’s post-coup leaders have been considered pariahs by many nations. Friday’s ceremony was attended by representatives from neighbouring nations China, India, and Thailand, as well as 20 other countries. Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul sent a congratulatory message saying that under Min Aung Hlaing’s “able leadership” the nations’ relations would “grow from strength to strength.” China was the election’s biggest backer, analysts say, and discussions over stalled Beijing-backed infrastructure projects are now being revived.
Min Aung Hlaing said his government will “work to restore normal relations” with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc, which has ostracised Myanmar’s leaders since the coup.
Myanmar’s military has ruled the country for most of its post-independence history. A rare decade-long interlude starting in 2011 saw the top brass loosen their grip and Suu Kyi’s civilian government tentatively take the reins in a burst of optimism and reform. Analysts say the military snatched back power in 2021 out of anxiety about its waning influence after her landslide victory over pro-military parties in the 2020 elections.
The junta-organised re-run of the vote excluded parties that won more than 90% of seats in 2020, according to the Asian Network for Free Elections, and punished protest or criticism of the poll with prison time. Voting did not take place in swathes of the country seized by rebels battling the military and rejecting the vote, further undermining Min Aung Hlaing’s mandate, according to rights monitors.
“Myanmar has returned to the path of democracy and is heading toward a better future,” he said.
In the lead-up to his swearing-in, some political prisoners from Suu Kyi’s administration were pardoned and government workers blacklisted for quitting in protest over the coup were invited to return to their jobs. Critics dismissed those steps as cosmetic, but Min Aung Hlaing said his government will “grant appropriate amnesties to support social reconciliation, justice and peace.”
He did not mention Suu Kyi, who has been held incommunicado since the putsch and is serving a 27-year sentence on charges that rights groups dismiss as politically motivated. More than 22,000 others have been locked up in Myanmar’s jails since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, while thousands have perished in the civil war.
The new parliament convened for its first session on 16th March, following a three-phase election process beginning in late December that resulted in victory for pro-military parties, including the Union Solidarity and Development Party. Min Aung Hlaing had served as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, from 2011 until stepping down in March to run for the presidency.
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