Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces, has vowed to respect the outcome of November’s landmark elections and has not ruled out becoming president if asked to take the top post.
“Whoever wins, I will respect the result if they win fairly,” Min Aung Hlaing told the BBC in a rare interview with a Western news outlet released yesterday.
“I believe the elections will be free and fair. That is our true wish. We are committed to helping make that happen, anyway we can,” he said.
About 30 million voters are expected to head to the polls on Nov. 8 for what is predicted to be the nation’s freest election in decades.
Myanmar languished for years under a brutal, isolationist and paranoid military junta, which crushed opposition and ruined the economy while enriching a coterie of senior military officers.
In 2011, army rule gave way to a quasi-reformist civilian government — dominated by former generals — which led to the lifting of most Western sanctions and a promise of elections.
The November elections are to be the first general election in a quarter of a century to be contested by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), which is expected to make huge gains at the ballot box if the vote is free and fair.
It will also give the international community a chance to judge the country’s democratic progress.
However, the army will continue to wield significant political influence even if the opposition sweep the polls, because 25 percent of seats in the country’s parliament will continue to be reserved for the military.
Observers say the army is deeply wedded to its perceived role as the protector of the Myanmar constitution, which was drawn up under a former military regime that suppressed all dissent and kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for about 15 years.
The NLD has vowed to change the constitution to reduce the army’s role and overturn a provision that currently bans Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president, because she has foreign born children.
In his interview, the general said he was open to changing some parts of the constitution, but said others had to remain in place because of ongoing fighting with ethnic rebel groups.
“It is impossible to leave people with all these problems, without real security,” he said of ongoing efforts to end decades of civil war.
Myanmar’s long-running peace process between the government, army and multiple rebel groups has foundered in recent months following the signing of a draft ceasefire deal in March.
Asked whether he had plans to seek the presidency, Min Aung Hlaing insisted he would remain as army chief until his retirement next year. However, he also did not rule out accepting the top post.
“If needed, we have to be prepared to serve the country in any role, this is part of our national politics,” he said. “If people ask me to do this duty, I will decide then.”
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS