Myanmar's government announced a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle Monday,
as President Thein Sein seeks to strengthen his hand in pursuing more economic
and social reforms.
Nine of the cabinet's ministers
were reassigned to new positions, according to a statement posted on the
president's website, marking the biggest government shake-up since a
nominally-civilian administration took power in Myanmar last year. The
reassigned ministers included Kyaw Hsan, previously the country's information
and culture minister, who was widely regarded as a hardliner who resisted
expanding freedoms for the country's closely-monitored press. He will now move
to a less important ministry known as the Ministry of Co-operatives.
It wasn't immediately possible to
reach Mr. Kyaw Hsan, who will be succeeded by Aung Kyi, a senior official who
in years past served as a government negotiator with then-dissident Aung San
Suu Kyi and whom residents described as sympathetic with President Thein Sein's
reform process.
The announcement also said that
several important ministers would now be attached to the president's office.
They included Aung Min, a former railway minister who has played a lead role in
President Thein Sein's efforts to negotiate peace agreements with armed ethnic
minority groups in the country. They also included Soe Thein, a former industry
minister who is also seen as a supporter of more economic change.
It wasn't immediately clear who
would be appointed to be the new railway minister, while the new industry
minister will be Aye Myint, formerly a science and technology minister.
It's "good that good people
are being given important positions," said Aung Naing Oo, a Thailand-based
political analyst who follows Myanmar. "The fact that the president has
appointed four people to his office—reform-minded people—is a good sign that he
is reinforcing his second wave of reform."
Investors and analysts have been
anticipating a major cabinet shuffle for months amid intensifying rumors of a
split between reformers and conservatives in Myanmar's new government, which
assumed power after a decades-old military junta stepped down last year. Since
then, Mr. Thein Sein—himself a former military officer—has led a sweeping
reform program that has included releasing hundreds of political prisoners,
loosening restrictions on the Internet, and floating the country's currency to
help modernize the economy. Ms. Suu Kyi, meanwhile, was elected to a
parliamentary post earlier this year after years of house arrest.
U.S. and European officials have
responded by easing many of the tough economic sanctions they put in place in
recent years to punish Myanmar's military for alleged human-rights violations.
But U.S. leaders still maintain some restrictions, including a ban on imports
from the country.
The new U.S. ambassador to
Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, recently said in an interview with The Wall Street
Journal that the country's reform process remains "fragile," and some
residents and investors have worried that more conservative elements within the
government could reassert themselves and slow the pace of change. The latest
reshuffle could make that less likely, at least in the short term.
The most immediate impact of the
reshuffle could be to clear the way for more press freedoms, though many
journalists have been skeptical of some of the most recent reforms.
The Ministry of Information last
week announced that Myanmar was ending the longstanding practice of
prepublication censorship, but journalists could still face sanctions after
publication if they anger the authorities. Government restrictions circulated among
journalists recently include admonitions that warn journalists against
publishing anything deemed "negatively" critical of the state or its
policies.
Maung Wuntha, a veteran
journalist and head of the Myanmar Journalists Association, said Monday's reshuffle
"is something like placing the right man in the right place."
"Kyaw Hsan was increasingly
unpopular among the media people. So he was moved to another, silent
place," he said.
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