‘Super minister’ Suu Kyi takes 4 portfolios as civilian rule begins

His Majesty the King sent a letter yesterday congratulating President Htin Kyaw on assuming office. “I am certain that the existing bonds of friendship and cooperation between our two countries and people will be further strengthened in the years to come,” the letter said. 

Suu Kyi, the only woman in the 21-member cabinet, was given four portfolios – Foreign Affairs, the President’s Office, Electric Power and Energy, and Education. 

Though her National League for Democracy (NLD) won by a landslide in the November election, the military-sponsored constitution prohibits her from taking the country’s top job as her late husband and sons are foreign citizens. 

Holding four portfolios at one time is obviously a tough job, unless Suu Kyi has very reliable deputies in the respective ministries, Phyo Wai Yar Zar, managing director of All Asia Exclusive Travel and chairman of Myanmar Tourism Marketing, said.

NLD spokesman Zaw Myint Maung had said earlier that Suu Kyi would mainly focus on foreign affairs, as this position gives her a place in a decision-making body like the National Defence and Security Council, along with the president, two vice presidents, the presidents of the upper and lower houses, the ministers of Defence, Home Affairs and Border Affairs, as well as the army chief. 

This is a formal forum where Suu Kyi can work and jointly make decisions alongside the country’s most-powerful figure – commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. 

Under the constitution, the army chief can take over in times of crisis. 

Holding the position of foreign minister would also make her Myanmar’s representative in the international community, as the country needs a foreign minister of high calibre to deal with an evolving geopolitical situation at the global and regional levels.

Also, it is not surprising that she has taken the Education portfolio as she is interested in the subject, though her other posts indicate that she wants to be in charge of relations with Myanmar’s most powerful neighbour China, veteran journalist Bertil Lintner, who specialises in Myanmar affairs, pointed out. With the key portfolio of Electric Power and Energy, Suu Kyi will be able to oversee Myanmar’s economic development. Power plant projects and natural gas are the country’s key resources, which are now mostly controlled by foreign investors, notably from China.

The previous government under Thein Sein shelved the China-backed Myitsone hydropower dam in 2011 due to the serious social and environmental impact it would have in Kachin state. 

China’s Ambassador to Myanmar Hong Liang said on March 4 that China would seek every possible way to resume the project by cooperating with the NLD, though the ruling party said it would take local concerns into account before making any decision on the project.

In many countries, the minister attached to the President’s Office might look after routine work of the president, but in Suu Kyi’s case, she will be more like the US president’s chief of staff.

Since the electoral victory, Suu Kyi has always said that she intends to run the country from above the president, and her position as President’s Office minister could make this come true.