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Htin Kyaw was Myanmar’s first civilian president and the head of its first government to be elected in free and fair polls. File photo: Reuters

Myanmar’s president, close friend of Aung San Suu Kyi, resigns amid speculation about health

Htin Kyaw was Myanmar’s first civilian president and the head of its first government to be elected in free and fair polls.

Myanmar’s President Htin Kyaw resigned suddenly on Wednesday leaving the country’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi without a close confidant and political ally as she faces rising international opprobrium over the Rakhine crisis.

The president is an old school friend of Suu Kyi, serving as her proxy in an office she was barred from occupying according to Myanmar’s military-drafted constitution.

His role was largely ceremonial given Suu Kyi had awarded herself the title State Counsellor and called the shots within her civilian administration.

But he was nonetheless the country’s head of state and a key domestic ally for Suu Kyi within her party.

Speculation had swirled for months about the health of Htin Kyaw, 72, who had recently lost weight and has had heart problems in the past.

“Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw resigned on March 21, 2018,” a statement on the president’s official Facebook page said.

His office did not give many details for why he resigned Wednesday, only saying that “he wanted to take a rest from his current duty”.

It added that a new leader will be selected in “within seven working days”.

Myanmar's President Htin Kyaw and Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. Photo: AFP

Htin Kyaw’s health has been deteriorating since he underwent, according to a President’s Office statement at the time, surgery last September in Bangkok following discovery of a polyp in his colon.

He also reportedly received brief medical treatment during an official visit to Japan last December

There were no immediate candidates put forward as long term successors, but several senior party names were floated when Suu Kyi took power.

Myanmar’s Vice-President Myint Swe, a former general, will move into the role until a new president is in place, according to the constitution.

Htin Kyaw stands next to Aung San Suu Kyi at her residence on the day of her release in 2010 from house arrest in Yangon. File photo: AFP

“The discussion about the replacement has been around for a while so this was well expected,” said Liu Yun, political analyst from China-based Han Yue Consultancy.

“It should have a fairly limited impact on the political equation in Myanmar.”

He said the role of the president “isn’t that influential as Suu Kyi makes the final call, so the impact will be limited.”

Htin Kyaw, the country’s first civilian president since 1962, was widely respected and seen as completely loyal to Suu Kyi’s who said she would rule “above” him after he was elected in 2016.

He has stood firmly by her side even as her reputation lies shattered internationally for not speaking up on behalf of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim community.

Myanmar President Htin Kyaw meets with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Naypyidaw in 2017. File photo: Xinhua )

A violent military crackdown has forced some 700,000 Rohingya to flee over the border into squalid camps in Bangladesh, in what the UN has branded as “ethnic cleansing” with possible “hallmarks of genocide”.

The military justifies its campaign as a legitimate response to Rohingya militant attacks against police posts in August.

Despite his largely ceremonial role, Htin Kyaw was active on the diplomatic front with China.

He visited Beijing in 2017 when it was announced Myanmar and China had reached an agreement on a US$1.5 billion oil pipeline after almost a decade of talks. He met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang.
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds a welcome ceremony for Myanmar President Htin Kyaw before their talks in Beijing in 2017. File photo: Xinhua
Later that year, he hosted Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw, where it was announced China had proposed a three-point plan to help Bangladesh and Myanmar resolve the Rohingya crisis

Htin Kyaw is the son of a revered poet and helped run Suu Kyi’s charitable foundation before taking over the presidency.

According to an official biography, Htin Kyaw studied at the University of London’s Institute of Computer Science from 1971 to 1972.

In a varied career he worked as a university teacher and also held positions in the finance and national planning and foreign affairs ministries in the late 1970s and 80s before retiring from government service as the military tightened its grip.

Additional reporting by Associated Press, Reuters and Kyodo

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: president quits, leaves suu kyi without ally
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