Against Military Coup, Myanmar Parliament Appoints Officials For 10 Ministries

Illustration of demonstrations by Myanmar citizens against the military coup. (Twitter / @ MyatNoe53231837)

JAKARTA - Members of the Myanmar Parliament elected from the National League for Democracy (NLD) as winners of the November 2020 elections, through the Myanmar Parliamentary Representative Committee (CRPH), appointed 4 acting ministers.

In a statement, CRPH assessed that since the Myanmar military regime's illegal arrest of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, the cabinet has been unable to carry out its duties.

Of the four appointed ministers, three were from the NLD. The four of them were appointed and given the power to carry out duties on behalf of cabinet members, as a form of resistance to the Myanmar military coup.

These four appointed ministers will later carry out the duties of several ministries. In total there are nine ministries whose acting ministers are appointed by CRPH who represent the Myanmar Parliament on this occasion.

Daw Zin Mar Aung, who was elected to the Lower House representing Yankin Yangon Township in the November 8 general election, was appointed acting minister of foreign affairs. He is a member of the CRPH.

The committee also appointed U Lwin Ko Latt to concurrently serve as acting minister of the presidential office and minister of the union government office.

In the November 8 vote, he was elected to the House of Representatives representing Thanlyin Township in Yangon. He is currently a member of the CRPH.

Another elected Lower House MP from the NLD, U Tin Tun Naing, was appointed acting minister for the three ministries of economy, namely the minister for planning, finance, and industry; minister of investment and foreign economic relations and minister of trade.

CRPH also chose Dr. Zaw Wai Soe as minister for three ministries, namely minister of labor, minister of immigration and population; the minister of education as well as the minister of health and sports. The Chancellor of the University of Medicine 1 Yangon has played a major role in Yangon's COVID-19 fight since last year.

Zaw Wai Soe strongly condemned the Myanmar military coup and participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement against the military regime, for refusing to serve in the military cabinet.

Among the CRPH members, 17 members of the NLD parliament were elected. Self-declared parliamentary committees were formed after the coup against military rule.

The NLD won Myanmar's general elections on November 8 by a landslide. NLD candidates won 920 of the 1,117 elected seats nationwide, including seats in both houses of the Bicameral Union Parliament and state or local parliaments, as well as the post of minister of ethnic affairs.