Min Aung Hlaing

Min Aung Hlaing (born July 3, 1956, Tavoy (now Dawei), Burma (now Myanmar)) is a military officer of Myanmar who, as commander in chief of the Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s armed forces), was handed power in the Myanmar coup of February 2021 and from August 2021 served as prime minister of a military-led caretaker government.

Early life and military career

Min Aung Hlaing was born in Tavoy (now Dawei), in southern Burma (now Myanmar). He studied law for two years before he was admitted in 1974, on his third attempt, to the Defense Services Academy, from which he graduated in 1977. Thereafter he moved up in rank in the military, serving in various divisions and eventually holding different commands. At one point he served under Col. Than Shwe, who would later lead Myanmar’s ruling military junta from 1992–2011. As the country prepared to transition to civilian rule, Than Shwe retired from the military. He passed over higher-ranking or more experienced officers in 2011 to select Min Aung Hlaing to succeed him as commander in chief; Min Aung Hlaing also became a general that year. He was made vice senior general in 2012 and senior general in 2013.

Commander in chief

As head of the military, Min Aung Hlaing was one of Myanmar’s most powerful individuals. In spite of the transition to civilian rule, the military still held considerable power, having written the 2008 constitution in a way that allowed it to hold at least 25 percent of the legislative seats, control who could be appointed to head the three most important ministries, and appoint at least one of the three vice president posts from which the president was elected. Another general, Thein Sein, had retired in 2010 and led the newly formed and military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). The party did well in the legislative elections held that year, and he was elected president of the new government in 2011. The relationship between the military and civilian government largely held during Thein Sein’s term as president, but strains began to show after the country’s first free and fair elections, held in 2015, ushered in a government led by noted dissident Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which had vastly outperformed the USDP. As a constitutional provision prohibited Aung San Suu Kyi from serving as president, a different NLD member succeeded Thein Sein. But Aung San Suu Kyi was soon named to the newly created and powerful state counselor position, which left the military incensed. The relationship between Min Aung Hlaing and Aung San Suu Kyi was uneasy.

Myanmar was home to multiple ethnic insurgencies, and negotiating peace and achieving security were prime issues for Min Aung Hlaing and the new NLD-led government. Both came under fire for the treatment of the Muslim Rohingya people of Myanmar’s Rakhine state when, after some attacks by Rohingya militants on security installations in 2016 and 2017, the military and police embarked on a brutal campaign against the entire group, allegedly committing human rights abuses and causing a large percentage of the Rohingya population to flee the country. In response to these events, the United States and the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on him.

Disputed elections of 2020

Min Aung Hlaing had been due to retire in 2016 but delayed it for five years, ostensibly to provide continuity for the transition to the NLD-led government. He was known to have presidential ambitions for after his retirement, possibly in part due to the considerable and lucrative business interests of the military; he himself had accumulated quite a bit of wealth and was thought to want to protect his financial interests. The military-aligned USDP performed poorly in the November 2020 elections, however, closing off the avenue of his being elected president as the USDP’s candidate. As the NLD won more than four-fifths of the legislative seats up for election, that party was again set to form the next government when parliament convened in 2021. The military and the USDP opted to challenge the results and lodged allegations of electoral fraud, although they did not provide any proof. The electoral commission rejected those claims, citing the lack of evidence. Furthermore, independent observers did not find any evidence of electoral fraud and deemed the election to be credible and reflective of the will of the people. The military and the USDP asked that the opening of parliament be postponed so that their fraud allegations could be further investigated, but the NLD-led government denied the request.

Military takeover in 2021

In late January 2021 Min Aung Hlaing warned that the constitution could be revoked if laws were not being respected or followed, a statement that alarmed observers. Indeed, on February 1, 2021, the military seized power. Pres. Win Myint and Aung San Suu Kyi were detained and Vice Pres. Myint Swe, a former military officer who was the military-appointed vice president, became acting president. He immediately invoked articles 417 and 418 of the constitution, declaring a one-year state of emergency and handing control of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government to Ming Aung Hlaing. The next day, Min Aung Hlaing was designated chair of the newly formed State Administrative Council. In justifying the military’s maneuvers, he cited what he maintained were still unresolved electoral irregularities and the denial of the military’s request to delay the opening of parliament. He promised to hold new elections at the end of the state of emergency and to hand power over to the winner. The military’s actions, viewed as a coup, were widely condemned on the international stage; they were unpopular domestically as well, and citizens opposing the military takeover engaged in organized acts of civil disobedience and protests. In July the regime annulled the results of the November 2020 elections. On August 1 Min Aung Hlaing was named prime minister of the new military-led caretaker government that replaced the council, and he extended the state of emergency until 2023.