Yangon: Myanmar has appointed a former naval chief, considered to be a political moderate, as one of the country’s two vice presidents.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Vice Admiral Nyan Tun, 58, was sworn in on Wednesday, succeeding former vice president Tin Aung Myint Oo, who disappeared from public view earlier this year and eventually resigned, citing health reasons.
Myint Oo was considered a key conservative hardliner, who resisted changes in Myanmar. Nyan Tun has been Myanmar’s naval commander since 2008, and also briefly served in the country’s military intelligence in the 1980s. Residents in Yangon said that Nyan Tu did not have a deep involvement in the alleged human rights violations of Myanmar’s former military regime.
“He has a good reputation of straightness and being relatively educated due to his navy career,” Maung Wuntha, president of a newly formed Myanmar Journalists Association in Yangon, said, adding: “To my knowledge, he has no record of human rights abuse. “He has enough experience and knowledge in management through his military career, though it may be something different from managing a country, especially during this critical juncture,”
Ko Ko Hlaing, an adviser to President Thein Sein, said, adding: “I think he will be good enough to assist the president in democratic reform”. According to the report, Nyan Tun was nominated by military lawmakers who comprise 25 percent of the country’s legislature and retain the right to choose one of Myanmar”s two vice presidents.
The other vice president, a leader from Myanmar”s Shan ethnic minority, is not widely believed to wield extensive power. According to the report, “Nyan Tun’s reputation as a moderate suggests that Thein Sein is really trying to make reform drive continues,” Jan Zalewski, an analyst with IHS Global Insight, said. (ANI)