Myanmar elects new civilian president

Christian lawmakers hail selection as a gift from God to the country's people.

Htin Kyaw, newly elected civilian president of Myanmar and member of the National League for Democracy party, leaves after a parliament session in Naypyidaw on March 15. (Photo by AFP)

Mandalay:  Myanmar's parliament has elected a 69-year-old Oxford-educated close aid of Aung San Suu Kyi as the country's new civilian president, formally ending more than 50 years of military rule.

Htin Kyaw is expected to be a proxy president for Suu Kyi, who is barred from the post by the country's constitution for marrying a foreigner. He will take office on April 1.

During the parliamentary election campaign, Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, had said she would be "above the president."

Htin Kyaw, son of prominent writer, Min Thu Won, who contested 1990 elections, is a senior member of a charitable foundation established to honor Suu Kyi's late mother. He also is the son-in-law of U Lwin, co-founder of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which swept Myanmar's Lower and Upper houses of parliament in November elections.

The new government faces the daunting task of balancing continued support from the still powerful military with ongoing deadly armed clashes with various rebel groups in a number of regions, while trying to execute reforms in an impoverished country still emerging from the effects of decades of debilitating authoritarian rule.

Mahn Johnny, a Catholic and lawmaker from the Irrawaddy Division, hailed Htin Kyaw's election as a gift from God to the people of Myanmar.

"I worked together with Htin Kyaw from 1996 to 1998. He is softly spoken but his ideas are sharp. He is very worthy to be our new president as I believe he will work for the development of the country," said Mahn Johnny, an ethnic Karen and a member of the NLD's central executive committee.

"Suu Kyi remains the leader … she will give instructions and guidance to the new president," Paul Naw Sam, an ethnic Kachin told ucanews.com on March 15.

He added that the League-led government will prioritize peace, as Myanmar has suffered through decades of civil war and insurgencies.

"I am determined to bring about peace as much I can. There can be no development, equality and rights without peace," said Paul Naw Sam, secretary of the parliamentary committee on Ethnic Affairs and Peace Implementing.

Pu Chin Sian Thang, a Baptist lawmaker from Chin State, said that while he was happy to help elect a new civilian president, the constitutional clause barring Suu Kyi from holding the top post was a violation of human rights.

"The new government will need to continue amending the constitution as we will not get democracy with the military-drafted constitution. Equality, self-determination and rights will not prevail if we don't amend it," Pu Chin Sian Thang told ucanews.com on March 15.

* This story has been updated and corrected. The first paragraph corrects Htin Kyaw's age as 69. New fifth paragraph added.

Source: UCAN