Myanmar silences skeptics with new president

Myanmar's parliament elected Win Myint as the country's new president with more than half of the votes on Wednesday, a week after his predecessor Htin Kyaw resigned. Just seven days ago, Win Myint, too, had resigned as the speaker of the House of Representatives.

The unexpected resignation of Htin Kyaw had sparked discussions and speculations both in Myanmar and in the international community, especially because Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the ruling party, was abroad at that time.

However, it seems the resignation of the Htin Kyaw and his replacement were planned, and he did step down for health reasons.

Actually, the serious global concern over the situation in Myanmar made the resignation of the president explosive news globally. The Htin Kyaw administration faced plenty of challenges during its two-year rule, especially the criticism of Western countries for its handling of the ethnic clashes in Myanmar's Rakhine state and the refugee issue since last year.

Even Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the governing National League for Democracy and state counsellor, has been criticized for her silence over the ethnic clashes. Some Western observers, including a few fellow Nobel Peace Prize winners, have even said she doesn't deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, which she won in 1991, with some saying she should step down from her post if she cannot stop the ethnic clashes.

The severe condemnation of the Myanmar government by some Western countries and observers has undoubtedly made the work of the country's young government even harder. For a party with little governing experience, it has not been easy to win the support of all the people to develop the country's economy, improve people's livelihoods and continue to push forward the democratic procedure in the complex political situation.

Facing brutal Western criticism, Aung San Suu Kyi and former president Htin Kyaw must have been under tremendous pressure. As a result, Htin Kyaw resigned due to health reasons, with Aung San Suu Kyi continuing to shoulder the responsibilities. In fact, the people in Myanmar didn't react to Htin Kyaw's resignation as dramatically as their Western counterparts, and whatever doubts they had were cleared as the reason for Htin Kyaw's resignation became clearer. Now that Win Myint, a close ally of Aung San Suu Kyi, has been elected Myanmar president, the Myanmar people and many abroad can analyze things more clearly.

Moreover, a member of parliament from the military said they will give the same support to the new president as the last one, and a NLD spokesperson stated the party is totally in favor of Win Myint as the president.

So Htin Kyaw's resignation will not undermine the dominant position of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD government, for the new president comes from the same party. But the Myanmar government has plenty of challenges ahead and how to deal with the ethnic clashes is the biggest one.

The author is a researcher at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences.