Myanmar’s military-appointed acting president Myint Swe gravely ill: regime-run media

Myint Swe, the military-backed acting head of state of Myanmar, is taking leave to rest and receive treatment for various ailments including a severe neurological disorder, junta-run media outlets reported on Friday. “Since early 2023, President Myint Swe has been receiving regular medical treatment for psychomotor retardation and malnutrition affected by neurological disorders, and peripheral neuropathy disease,” an article in the regime-operated Global New Light of Myanmar (GNLM) newspaper said. The illness has rendered Myint Swe, 73, incapable of eating normally or performing the everyday duties of his office, according to the GNLM report, and will require attentive medical treatment. “Based on medical examination, the neurological disorder he is suffering from, peripheral neuropathy, has made him slow to respond to stimuli,” the report said, adding that he stayed at a military hospital in Myanmar for three weeks after receiving treatment abroad. “Between April 15 and 19, he was treated at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. This was followed by treatment at a military hospital from May 27 to June 16,” the regime-run outlet reported. The junta-backed acting president’s illness was announced on Thursday, two days after the hospital discharged him. The announcement nearly coincided with the 77th Martyrs’ Day on Friday, which commemorates the killing of Aung San, an independence hero for Myanmar’s Bamar ethnic majority and father of ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The junta-run media reports also said that during his hospital stay, Myint Swe had undergone successful operations for cataracts on both eyes, which restored normal eyesight, but that the peripheral neuropathy disease still required attention from specialists at his home. His health has shown little improvement despite the efforts of junta health minister Dr. Thet Khaing Win and eight other specialists employed by the junta between June 30 till July 14, according to the reports. Myint Swe is a former lieutenant general of the Myanmar army and member of the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party. Along with former vice-president Henry Van Thio, who resigned in April of this year citing health reasons, Myint Swe served as a vice president during the administration of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which was ousted in the February 2021 military coup. Both were among the few civilian officials who remained in administrative office following the coup, with the junta appointing Myint Swe as acting president while Henry Van Thio stayed on as a vice president. According to one former general, Myint Swe’s health was harmed by his role in the coup, specifically his involvement in the declaration and multiple extensions of a “state of emergency” that the military has used to justify its seizure and ongoing hold on power. “He’s been sick because he’s been living as if he’s under house arrest. And he’s been unhappy and haunted by the thought he will go down in history as a culprit of the coup,” the ex-general told Myanmar Now. The general added that the junta’s disclosure of Myint Swe’s condition after weeks of concealing it is likely a sign that the junta believes Myint Swe will not recover in time to authorise the next extension of the emergency at the end of July, and is preparing for a cabinet reshuffle. He also noted that the junta is wary of admitting a “rift” between them and Myint Swe. “This is a preparation announcement for what is to come in the next two weeks,” the general said. According to the military-drafted 2008 Constitution of Myanmar, which remains in force, the authority to convene a meeting of the national defence and security council lies with the president. In the president’s absence, it is unclear how the military junta and its chief Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing will continue to legitimise its rule, and whether they will find another way to circumvent the constitution’s requirements or even suspend it.

Myanmar’s military-appointed acting president Myint Swe gravely ill: regime-run media

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