Charity leader could become Myanmar’s next president
A close aide of Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is very high on the list of proposed presidents for the country after her National League for Democracy (NLD) won the recent elections in a landslide victory. Htin Kyaw, a leading member of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a non-profit health and education charity named for Suu Kyi’s mother, is said to be top choice for the job which will be filled by March 10.
Kyaw, a 70-year-old graduate from Oxford, is seen as one of Suu Kyi’s trusted aides with honest and loyal credentials. He is of Mon-Burmese decent and son of Min Thuwun, one of Myanmar’s national poets who was elected NLD lawmaker in the 1990 polls. Kyaw’s wife, Su Su Lwin, is an NLD lawmaker in the lower house. Most importantly, his father-in-law is U Lwin, one of the NLD’s founders and its key executive during Suu Kyi’s long term of house arrest, a time when Kyaw also acted as her driver at several occasions.
There has been speculation about Kyaw’s nomination for the post since the NLD’s election victory in November last year. He has all the characteristics to be what observers anticipate will be Suu Kyi’s “puppet president” as she has continually insisted she will be “above the president” and effectively running the government.
Suu Kyi herself is barred from presidency on constitutional grounds and despite a lot of talks and meetings with Myanmar’s s military leaders since the election, the junta rejected amending or suspending the law. She now is likely to take the post of foreign minister which would allow her to attend meetings of the military-controlled National Defense and Security Council, a powerful organ of the government that has the authority to declare a state of emergency.
The list of presidential candidates is to be submitted by the NLD until March 10 to the parliament for election of the president on that day. Both the upper and lower houses each also elect a vice-president, and the military MPs nominate their own choice.
Among Suu Kyi’s other candidates are another close aide, Tin Mar Aung, her former chief of staff who worked as a medical doctor for UNICEF before joining the NLD’s top circles, as well as Moe Zaw Oo, an NLD Youth leader since 1988 and former political prisoner who was recently appointed chief of staff in the NLD chairman’s office.
[caption id="attachment_27796" align="alignleft" width="300"] Htin Kyaw, Myanmar's next president? Picture: HeinHtet/Mon[/caption] A close aide of Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is very high on the list of proposed presidents for the country after her National League for Democracy (NLD) won the recent elections in a landslide victory. Htin Kyaw, a leading member of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a non-profit health and education charity named for Suu Kyi’s mother, is said to be top choice for the job which will be filled by March 10. Kyaw, a 70-year-old graduate from Oxford, is seen as one of Suu Kyi's trusted...
A close aide of Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is very high on the list of proposed presidents for the country after her National League for Democracy (NLD) won the recent elections in a landslide victory. Htin Kyaw, a leading member of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a non-profit health and education charity named for Suu Kyi’s mother, is said to be top choice for the job which will be filled by March 10.
Kyaw, a 70-year-old graduate from Oxford, is seen as one of Suu Kyi’s trusted aides with honest and loyal credentials. He is of Mon-Burmese decent and son of Min Thuwun, one of Myanmar’s national poets who was elected NLD lawmaker in the 1990 polls. Kyaw’s wife, Su Su Lwin, is an NLD lawmaker in the lower house. Most importantly, his father-in-law is U Lwin, one of the NLD’s founders and its key executive during Suu Kyi’s long term of house arrest, a time when Kyaw also acted as her driver at several occasions.
There has been speculation about Kyaw’s nomination for the post since the NLD’s election victory in November last year. He has all the characteristics to be what observers anticipate will be Suu Kyi’s “puppet president” as she has continually insisted she will be “above the president” and effectively running the government.
Suu Kyi herself is barred from presidency on constitutional grounds and despite a lot of talks and meetings with Myanmar’s s military leaders since the election, the junta rejected amending or suspending the law. She now is likely to take the post of foreign minister which would allow her to attend meetings of the military-controlled National Defense and Security Council, a powerful organ of the government that has the authority to declare a state of emergency.
The list of presidential candidates is to be submitted by the NLD until March 10 to the parliament for election of the president on that day. Both the upper and lower houses each also elect a vice-president, and the military MPs nominate their own choice.
Among Suu Kyi’s other candidates are another close aide, Tin Mar Aung, her former chief of staff who worked as a medical doctor for UNICEF before joining the NLD’s top circles, as well as Moe Zaw Oo, an NLD Youth leader since 1988 and former political prisoner who was recently appointed chief of staff in the NLD chairman’s office.
