Myanmar’s new president vowed in his inauguration speech on Friday to implement democracy, human rights and other social changes that the public has long been waiting for.
“By applying the lessons learned from the challenges and crises we have experienced in the past, our government will try its best, with full impartiality, to bring about democracy and the respect for human rights that our people long for, U Win Myint said.
Laying out a roadmap for the remaining three years of the National League for Democracy-led government’s current term, the president vowed to crack down on corruption and the illegal drug trade, and to reform the country’s weak judicial system.
U Win Myint was inaugurated as the country’s 10th president on Friday morning at the Union Parliament along with two vice presidents. He was elected by a parliamentary vote on Wednesday.
In his inauguration speech to the Union Parliament on Friday, U Win Myint emphasized the need for all parties to be open to change if the country’s democratic transition is to succeed. He warned that “close supervision would be imposed on departments reluctant to make changes,” referring to the fact that some department officials loyal to the previous government had resisted implementing changes ordered by the NLD government.
The 67-year-old acknowledged that Myanmar today faces problems in every sector, while challenges mount both at home and abroad.
“While it’s impossible to tackle them all, I will do my best to prioritize them,” he said.
In a 7-minute-long speech delivered in front of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, military chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, Union cabinet members and lawmakers, the president said the government would tackle corruption; take steps to combat drug trafficking; provide compensation for illegally confiscated land; and uphold human rights. He also vowed to improve the lives of farmers, workers and students.
“To make this happen, the three pillars of the country [legislative, judiciary and executive] need mutual understanding and respect, and to coordinate their activities for the interests of the people,” he said.
He urged the public to take the social role of the media sector seriously, describing the media as the eyes and ears of the people.
Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate who championed Myanmar’s emergence from junta rule by sweeping 2015 elections, is constitutionally barred from the presidency because she was married to a foreigner.
To circumvent that snag, her party created a new position for her called state counsellor – allowing Suu Kyi to rule “above” the president.
That makes it vital for her to have a reliable proxy in office, especially as she manages the delicate power-sharing arrangement with the military, which ruled the country for almost half a century and remains enormously influential.
In his first address to parliament, the famously straight-talking Win Myint said he would focus on the rule of law, national reconciliation and “amending the constitution to build a democratic federal union”.
The three issues are touchstones of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
But talk of amendments to Myanmar’s 2008 constitution is likely to be rebuffed by Myanmar’s still-powerful generals.
The army has ceded some power to the civilian administration but retains 25 percent of parliamentary seats and total control of security affairs under the charter.
Win Myint also said he would work to “protect human rights”, a thorny subject in a country accused of ethnic cleansing by the UN against its Rohingya Muslim population.
Win Myint is part of Suu Kyi’s inner circle — the pair campaigned together during the 1988 democracy protests against the then-junta, a movement that was violently suppressed.
For his role Win Myint, alongside many others, was taken political prisoner.
Suu Kyi is still widely regarded as a pro-democracy heroine in Myanmar even though her reputation has been damaged internationally for failing to speak up on behalf of the country’s Rohingya Muslims.
