By Ra Wai / MPA
Daw Thet Thet Khine, who gained a ministerial position in the military junta after defecting from the National League for Democracy (NLD), has been removed from her post.
The military junta announced on Friday that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing had reshuffled the regime’s cabinet, resulting in the dismissal of Daw Thet Thet Khine as Minister of Hotels and Tourism.
A Yangon-based political analyst told MPA, “Thein Nyunt, Khin Maung Swe, and the more recent Thet Thet Khine were elevated by Min Aung Hlaing as figures who had betrayed the NLD. Now, all of them have been purged from the junta’s inner circle.”
Daw Thet Thet Khine, who was elected to the Pyithu Hluttaw (House of Representatives) under the NLD in 2015, left the party in 2019 to establish the People’s Pioneer Party. After her party’s defeat in the 2020 election, she was appointed Minister of Social Welfare, Relief, and Resettlement following the military coup. She was later reassigned as Minister of Hotels and Tourism.
Similarly, U Thein Nyunt and U Khin Maung Swe, former NLD Central Executive Committee members, broke away in 2010 to form their own parties. After the 2021 coup, Min Aung Hlaing appointed them as members of the military council. In 2023, both were reassigned to the junta’s advisory board.
The analyst added, “Advisory roles are essentially a form of sidelining. Thein Nyunt and Khin Maung Swe don’t even dare to appear in public in Naypyidaw. It’s as if they are under house arrest, confined to their homes. As for Thet Thet Khine, she wasn’t even given an advisory role—she was dismissed outright.”
On Friday, Min Aung Hlaing, the junta’s self-appointed interim president, convened a National Defence and Security Council meeting. He declared that stability and peace were still necessary to hold elections and extended the state of emergency for another six months.
That same day, Jan.31, the junta also announced a restructuring of both the State Administration Council and the Union Government.
Editor – ML
Translator – Alice Wai
