Myanmar's president reshuffled his cabinet on Monday, his office announced, in a long-awaited move seen as promoting reform-minded allies and sidelining a prominent hard-liner. Former general Thein Sein awarded four of his key ministers the joint role of minister of the president's office in what his aides said was a bid to speed up the reform process.
They include Railway Minister Aung Min, who has played a leading role in cease-fire talks with ethnic rebels, as well as Finance Minister Hla Tun and Industry Minister Soe Thein, key figures in economic reforms. "They will work for the president. So the president will only need to make final decisions and he will have more time to work on the important matters," said a senior government official who did not want to be named, adding that their replacements would be announced later.
Since taking office last year, Thein Sein has overseen a number of dramatic changes such as the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament. But there have been signs of tensions between reform-minded members of the government and conservatives opposed to rapid political change.
The country's hard-line Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, who for years oversaw the regime's often-fraught relations with the media, has been moved to the seemingly obscure role of minister of co-operatives. He will head a little-known ministry whose goal, according to its website, is to "promote co-operative socio economic well being". Labour Minister Aung Kyi - the former junta's official liaison to Suu Kyi while she was under house arrest - will replace him.
The move came a week after Myanmar said it had abolished pre-publication press censorship that was a hallmark of life under the generals who ran the country for almost half a century until last year. It also follows the appointment earlier this month of the navy chief to replace a regime hard-liner as one of the country's vice presidents, in a move that was also seen as strengthening government reformers.
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