Myanmar's Military Leader Ascends to Presidency Amidst Controversy
Min Aung Hlaing, the military general who seized power in Myanmar's 2021 coup, has been formally appointed as the country's president. This move comes months after elections that were widely condemned internationally as a sham designed to legitimize military rule.
A Troubled Path to Power
The 69-year-old general, who plunged Myanmar into conflict and economic chaos when he took power five years ago, was voted president by lawmakers on Friday. Myanmar's parliament is dominated by the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won a landslide victory in one-sided elections held across three phases from December to January.
Analysts note that Min Aung Hlaing has long sought the presidency, but for years his ambitions were thwarted by the electoral success of the hugely popular Aung San Suu Kyi. The former de facto leader no longer poses a threat, however. The 80-year-old has been detained since the 2021 coup, when her government was ousted from power, and her party was banned from contesting recent elections.
International Condemnation and Accusations
Min Aung Hlaing, who is wanted by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity against the Rohingya Muslim minority, faces numerous accusations of presiding over repeated atrocities and human rights abuses. In 2009, while overseeing operations in border areas of northeast Myanmar, his troops were accused of driving tens of thousands of ethnic minority people from their homes.
Such brutality was repeated on an even greater scale in violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine state in 2017, which is now the center of a genocide case at The Hague. Since the coup, UN investigators have accused Min Aung Hlaing's regime of indiscriminate airstrikes killing civilians, "mass killings of detainees, dismemberment and desecration of bodies, rape and the deliberate burning of entire villages," describing such crimes as "a manifestation of an organisational policy."
Military Dominance and Political Crisis
Myanmar's military has been likened to a state within a state, siloed from the rest of society with its own banks, companies, news outlets and hospitals. It considers itself the protector of Myanmar as a Buddhist Bamar nation—Bamar referring to the majority ethnic group.
Min Aung Hlaing was appointed commander-in-chief in 2011, assuming the role at a time when Myanmar was embarking on a fragile transition to democracy. The military remained extremely powerful during this period, even after Aung San Suu Kyi won a sweeping victory in 2015. Under the military's model of "disciplined democracy," it was granted a quarter of parliamentary seats and the power to appoint key cabinet positions.
Breakdown of Power-Sharing and Civil War
The uneasy power-sharing arrangement broke down after the 2020 election, which Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) again won by a landslide. Min Aung Hlaing accused her party of widespread voter fraud without evidence and seized power on February 1, 2021. The coup triggered mass protests that spiraled into a civil war that continues to rage across the country.
It is not expected that the changes in leadership will ease the political crisis or the deadly conflict. Min Aung Hlaing was already Myanmar's acting president, and according to International Crisis Group analysis, he is likely to install loyalists in key positions.
Personal Characteristics and International Isolation
Richard Horsey, a senior Myanmar adviser to Crisis Group, noted that the junta leader presents himself as a politician rather than a "soldier's soldier," and even in the midst of a post-coup fight was often photographed inspecting infrastructure and factories rather than visiting the frontlines. "It's well known that he's long coveted the presidency," Horsey added.
Min Aung Hlaing is also described as a deeply superstitious figure who is keen to present himself as devoutly religious. He has frequently commissioned and renovated pagodas and religious sites, including a huge Buddha statue in the capital Nay Pyi Taw. "I don't think he sees that as [being in] contradiction with his role as a brutal leader," said Horsey.
In recent months, Min Aung Hlaing has stepped up his international trips, attempting to clamber back from his status as an international pariah. His diplomatic style has been mocked by critics—particularly a visit to Moscow last year when, while heaping praise on Vladimir Putin, he said the friendship between Myanmar and Russia had been prophesied by the Buddha thousands of years ago when the Russian president was a "rat king" in a previous life.
Domestic Challenges and International Backing
At home, Min Aung Hlaing is unable to travel to large areas of Myanmar that have been seized by opposition groups or are in the midst of fighting. However, with backing from his ally China, the junta chief probably hopes the recent election will allow him to reverse his isolated status abroad and reassure pro-military voices who have criticized his failure to suppress opposition since the coup.
Myanmar has denied the accusations of genocide, and the military says its post-coup operations are targeted at terrorists it accuses of destabilizing the country. Yanghee Lee, a former special rapporteur for Myanmar, noted that Min Aung Hlaing is seen as a paranoid, suspicious person who "will not trust anybody [enough] to take orders from [them]—he would want to deliver the orders."
