Myanmar junta plans ‘super-body’ to tighten grip on military, new government

YANGON - Myanmar’s junta will form a new entity to oversee both the military and civilian administration, a move experts say will allow paramount ruler Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to become president without loosening his grip on the powerful armed forces.

Just days after the

completion of a final phase of an election

that will see a Parliament convene in March and power transferred to a nominally civilian government, the junta announced its plans in state media late on Feb 3 to create the five-member Union Consultative Council.

Its mandate is exceptionally broad, granting it control over every critical component of national security and the legislative process, said Mr Naing Min Khant, programme associate at the Institute for Strategy and Policy - Myanmar think-tank.

“The formation of the Union Consultative Council represents a significant institutional shift, likely to create a ‘super-body’ designed to hold supreme authority above the executive, legislative, and judicial branches,” Mr Naing Min Khant said.

A spokesperson for the junta did not answer calls seeking comment on the council.

Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing

took control of Myanmar in a 2021 coup

that ousted a civilian government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and triggered widespread protests that expanded into a nationwide civil war.

More than 93,000 people have since been killed in violence in Myanmar, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

The 69-year-old Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing has indicated he intends to hand over “state responsibilities” to the next government.

He is widely expected to become president.

The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party swept the election, winning 81 per cent of available Upper and Lower House seats in a contest criticised by the United Nations, some Western nations and rights groups as a one-sided exercise to keep the ruling generals in power through proxies.

State-run media did not provide a reason for why the council was being formed.

According to two lawyers, it will potentially enable Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing to become president while ensuring he retains full control over the military, which has governed Myanmar for five of the past six decades.

It would also ensure he had control over the civilian-led administration and legislative matters, they said.

“I believe that this newly appointed Union Consultative Council will oversee the new (military) Commander-in-Chief on one hand, and the government on the other,” said lawyer U Kyee Myint, adding that the body would prevent any successor to Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing as military chief from holding too much power.

But there appears to be no oversight for the new council, according to Mr Naing Min Khant.

“A defining feature of this arrangement is its total lack of accountability,” he said. REUTERS