Myanmar Speaker has Few Options

The Straits Times

18 August 2015

Thura Shwe Mann, Myanmar’s Speaker of Parliament, has few options after being ousted from the leadership of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) last week – and there is speculation that he may be impeached if he defies the military-backed establishment that moved against him.

President Thein Sein, seen as a top contender for a second term after the ouster of Mr Shwe Mann and several members of his faction from the top echelons of the USDP, arrived at the party’s headquarters in Naypyitaw yesterday for a rare visit and confab with the new executive committee. Until late yesterday afternoon, it was not known what was discussed.

It came as Mr Shwe Mann met opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for an hour yesterday. The two are known to have developed a close working relationship – one of the factors that pundits say led to the internal party coup against him last Wednesday night. It was also not known what was discussed at their meeting.

… But in a telephone interview, Mr Kyaw San Wai, who is a senior analyst at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said: “He has no cards up his sleeve.

“For now ,Thura Shwe Mann has had his wings clipped, so it is not that dramatic. But with an institution like the military against you, it is probably smarter to go quietly.”

Categories:

RSIS / Print / Online