Junta boss Min Aung Hlaing has reshuffled his cabinet, including changes to the key posts of defense minister and home affairs minister, days after extending emergency rule in Myanmar for another six months on Monday.
The cabinet remains dominated by generals. The shakeup sees the Home Affairs Ministry portfolio pass from Lieutenant General Soe Htut to Lieutenant General Yar Pyae, who was previously the Union Government Office 1 minister, while General Tin Aung San takes over as defense minister, switching positions with General Mya Tun Oo, who takes over at the helm of the Transport and Communications Ministry. Both men will continue to serve concurrently as deputy prime ministers.
The shakeups at the Defense and Home Affairs ministries were the first since Min Aung Hlaing grabbed power in a 2021 coup.
They are the two ministries most responsible for countering the armed anti-regime resistance movement, which has rocked both urban areas and the countryside. Despite their efforts, more than two years on, the junta is still struggling to combat the unwavering resistance and has been unable to bring the country under its control. Analysts said this is likely one of the reasons behind the reshuffles of the ministries’ leaders. Soe Htut’s health may also be a factor, however, as he has long been rumored to suffer from cancer, and some speculated this could explain his transfer to an effectively inactive post like Union Government Office 1 minister.
Meanwhile, new Home Affairs Minister Yar Pyae remains on the junta’s governing body, the State Administration Council (SAC). He also maintains his positions as national security adviser to Min Aung Hlaing and head of the junta’s peace negotiation team. His predecessor Lt-Gen Soe Htut concurrently served as deputy prime minister but will no longer hold the post. Yar Pyae was however not appointed a deputy prime minister. Min Aung Hlaing still leads the SAC, nine of whose 18 members are generals.
The appointments of Tin Aung San and Yar Pyae to key positions came after Min Aung Hlaing told a meeting of the National Defense and Security Council (NDSC) on Monday that he would do whatever it takes to reassert control of the country. The regime has lost control of large swathes of the country to resistance forces.
As part of the reshuffle, Foreign Minister Than Swe, tasked with defending Min Aung Hlaing on the international stage against critics of the junta’s atrocious human rights record, while also trying to ease the junta’s near isolation on the diplomatic front, was promoted to concurrently serve as a deputy prime minister.
The International Cooperation Ministry, headed by junta apologist Ko Ko Hlaing, better known as “Candle” Ko Ko Hlaing for urging Myanmar people to use candles amid frequent blackouts in 2014, has been disbanded and Ko Ko Hlaing shunted off to head Union Government Office 2.
Thet Thet Khine was replaced by Dr. Soe Win as social welfare minister and will take over as hotels and tourism minister. Thet Thet Khine, the chairwoman of the People’s Pioneer Party, was previously a lawmaker with the National League for Democracy, whose government the Myanmar military ousted in 2021.
The reshuffle also saw deputy ministers appointed to the SAC Office, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry and Hotels and Tourism Ministry. Dr. Htein Lin Oo was appointed deputy legal affairs minister and deputy attorney-general.
Chief Justice Tun Tun Oo was forced to resign on health grounds, making way for Thar Htay, chairman of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Union. U Aung Zaw Thein succeeds Thar Htay as the head of the tribunal.
Naypyitaw Council Chairman Tin Oo Lwin, who was a classmate of Min Aung Hlaing at the Defense Services Academy, replaces Ko Ko as religious affairs and culture minister, while Than Tun Oo is the new chairman of the Naypyitaw Council.
Electricity Minister Thaung Han was replaced by Nyan Tun, Energy Minister Myo Myint Oo by Ko Ko Lwin, and Labor Minister Dr. Pwint San by Myint Naung. Auditor-General Htay Aung was replaced by Sitt Aung, and Myanmar National Human Rights Commission chairman Hla Myint was replaced by Paw Lwin Sein.
Ko Ko, who was sacked as religious affairs minister on Monday immediately after the consecration of the colossal marble Buddha statue built by Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw, was quoted by the BBC as saying, “I am in no mood for comment. I take it as normal.”
Maung Ko and Dr. Aung Kyaw Min were forced to resign from the SAC, and were not appointed to any other body. Another SAC member, Dr. Kyaw Tun, was shunted off to the SAC central advisory body, which stands above the council in name only.
An observer pointed out that Min Aung Hlaing has fallen into a pattern of boasting that his cabinet is full of able individuals up to the task of overcoming the country’s many difficulties and challenges, only to reshuffle them. The observer compared the junta boss to a card player who constantly loses and then reshuffles the deck.
