Myanmar: President tries to expand Army powers

Myanmar’s outgoing Army-backed President asked Parliament on Tuesday to extend the powers of the military-controlled home affairs ministry by giving it control over immigration, officials said.

The surprise move comes just days before the incumbent military-dominated Parliament hands over to a legislature led by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, as the balance of power begins to tilt partially away from the Army for the first time in generations.

President’s Office director Zaw Htay said that Thein Sein had decided “to combine the ministry of immigration and population and ministry of home affairs” and had written to Parliament asking for its approval.

It is expected to be discussed in the legislature on Wednesday. If approved, the proposal would significantly add to the military’s power even under an NLD government.

That is because the junta-drafted Consti-tution puts the three major ministries of home affairs, border affairs and defence under Army control.

Home affairs is already a ministerial juggernaut, with control over the police and huge swathes of the bureaucracy.

Ms Suu Kyi and Army Chief Min Aung Hlaing held closed-door discussions in the capital Naypyidaw on Monday, the second such talks between the pair since the NLD won a huge victory in landmark November elections.

Observers see a rapprochement between Ms Suu Kyi, 70, and the military as crucial to ensuring the delicate political handover stays on track as the new Parliament prepares to select a President to replace Thein Sein in late March.

Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government replaced outright Army rule in 2011 and has spearheaded dramatic political and economic reforms, opening the long-cloistered nation to the world.

But Ms Suu Kyi remains barred from top political office under the junta-era Constitution because she married and had children with a foreigner.