Myanmar’s new president sees challenges ahead, eyes ASEAN detente

NAYPYITAW – Myanmar’s new President Min Aung Hlaing on April 10 said his government has many challenges to overcome and would seek to enhance international relations, including normalising ties with South-east Asian grouping ASEAN after five years in the cold.

In his inauguration address, the former junta chief who was the architect of a 2021 coup that led to civil war and international sanctions said his government would strive to spur foreign investment and domestic business growth as part of “effective, long-term strategic plans” for resource-rich Myanmar.

“Myanmar is now well on its way towards democracy, but the new government has a lot of challenges to overcome,” he told a Parliament packed with lawmakers from an army-backed party and legislators hand-picked by the military.

“The new government will implement a roadmap based on democracy and federalism... our priorities are democracy and peace,” he said.

His speech lasted less than 20 minutes and lacked specifics on his agenda, including what steps would be taken to end Myanmar’s international isolation, or tackle the raging civil war in which the military is accused of widespread atrocities against the civilian population.

The military denies any wrongdoing.

Rocky path to presidency

Mr Min Aung Hlaing, 69, was elected president by Parliament a week ago, formalising his grip on power after a coup that ended a decade of tentative democracy and triggered an exodus of foreign investors from what was once one of Asia’s most promising frontier markets.

His rocky but carefully choreographed journey from top general to civilian president follows a recent election won in a landslide by an army-backed party that had no viable opposition.

Critics and Western governments dismissed the vote as a sham designed to perpetuate military rule behind a veneer of democracy.

The coup and ensuing crackdown by a military led to an intervention by the 11-member Association of South-east Asian Nations, which later barred the junta leadership from attending its summits, prompting fury from the generals who called it a violation of the grouping’s non-interference policy.

“We will enhance international relations and strive to restore normal relations with ASEAN,” the new president said in the speech, which more than 50 foreign delegates attended, including from Russia, China and Thailand, among the few countries that maintained engagement with the junta.

Amnesties under consideration

The ceremony included the swearing-in of his new Cabinet, which consists of holdovers from the junta era and retired officers of the military, which has ruled Myanmar directly for five of the past six decades.

In his speech, he said that to promote peace and reconciliation, “appropriate amnesties” would be taken into consideration, but did not elaborate.

Thousands of junta opponents remain in detention, the most notable of whom is Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the 80-year-old leader of the elected government that he overthrew.

Asked by reporters what would be his first acts as president, a smiling Mr Min Aung Hlaing, dressed in civilian attire, said he would seek to achieve stability, peace and development for Myanmar.

“I urge everyone to be united and to work hard,” he added. REUTERS