Myanmar military chief Min Aung Hlaing steps down with eye on presidency

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, who led a coup in 2021, stepped down on March 30 to stand as president in a parliamentary vote following the first polls in the South-east Asian nation since the takeover that triggered a civil war.

The 69-year-old general, who had commanded Myanmar’s armed forces since 2011, was one of two people named as vice-presidential candidates by lawmakers from the country’s newly convened Lower House of Parliament.

The country’s Upper House will nominate another vice-presidential candidate, with a president selected from the three in a later vote, the date of which has not been announced.

“Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is proposed as a vice-presidential candidate,” military-aligned party lawmaker Kyaw Kway Htay said on the floor of the Lower House of Parliament, according to a live broadcast of proceedings on state media.

The move comes after a controversial election held amid raging conflict in December and January, which was won by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party but was widely derided as a sham by the UN and many Western countries.

Myanmar has been gripped by violence since the 2021 coup, in which the military, also known as the Tatmadaw, unseated the democratically elected government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

At a separate ceremony in the capital Naypyitaw, Gen Min Aung Hlaing handed over the position of commander-in-chief of the armed forces to veteran officer Ye Win Oo. “I will continue to serve the interests of the people, the military, and the national interests of the country,” General Ye Win Oo said in a speech broadcast by the military-owned media.

The veteran officer was appointed Myanmar’s intelligence chief in 2020, and was promoted to commander-in-chief of the army earlier in March.

Independent analyst Aung Kyaw Soe said: “The fact that he received two major promotions within two months clearly demonstrates that he is one of Min Aung Hlaing’s most trusted loyalists.”

A graduate of the Officer Training School – rather than the elite Defence Services Academy that has long been a crucible for the officer corps – General Ye Win Oo previously led an infantry division and the South-western Command in the Ayeyarwady delta in the country’s south.

The Institute for Strategy and Policy – Myanmar, a think-tank based in Thailand, wrote in a March analysis: “Since the coup, he has retained the rank of general and held one of the most sensitive portfolios at the apex of the military administration.

“Even so, General Ye Win Oo appears to lack the breadth of leadership experience that spans both battlefield command and institutional administration.”

Longstanding goal

Born to a family from Myanmar’s south, Gen Min Aung Hlaing studied law before entering the military and rising steadily through the ranks, culminating in his promotion to military chief in 2011.

A rigid leader and considered by many to be a ruthless operator, he has also relied on a finely tuned ability to manage the country’s elites, using tactics that include handing important positions to loyalists and punishing political rivals, Reuters has reported.

He has long had his eyes on becoming the country’s president, even though Myanmar’s raging civil war has dented the military’s prestige and hold over the country, Reuters has reported.

“This has been Min Aung Hlaing’s goal all along,” said independent analyst Htin Kyaw Aye, pointing to the general’s potential presidential role.

“It’s just a shift from ruling as a military leader to ruling as president.” REUTERS