Burma's president announces reshuffle

28 Aug 2012, 6:33 am   -   Source: AAP
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The shake-up is the biggest since President Thein Sein's government took office from the former military junta in March last year. (Getty)

The shake-up is the biggest since President Thein Sein's government took office from the former military junta in March last year. (Getty)

Burma has announced a major cabinet reshuffle, which analysts believe will push forward the nation's reformist agenda.

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Burma's president has announced a major cabinet reshuffle, a move analysts see as advancing the once-pariah nation's reformist agenda.

The shake-up is the biggest since President Thein Sein's government took office from the former military junta in March last year and launched a wave of dramatic reforms that have surprised the world and prompted Western powers to ease crippling sanctions.

Rumours have swirled for months about a possible reshuffle.

The announcement made late on Monday on the president's official website said nine out of 33 cabinet posts are being swapped out, including the portfolios of finance, information, industry, and national planning and economic development. It also said 15 new deputy ministers have been appointed.

Among the most prominent changes is the replacement of former information minister Kyaw Hsan, widely seen as a hard-liner. He was replaced by labour and social welfare minister Aung Kyi, who has also acted as a liaison between the government and pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The information ministry oversees local and foreign media and the film industry, and has supervised the approval of visas for foreign correspondents. Kyaw Hsan was kept in government, however, and appointed to head the co-operatives ministry.

Thant Myint-U, a historian from Burma and grandson of the late UN secretary-general U Thant, said in a tweet that the reshuffle is "unquestionably a strengthening of President U Thein Sein's reformist agenda, with top academics, technocrats brought into (the) cabinet".

The president's statement did not name all of the new ministers, but it said several outgoing ministers were moved to four new ministerial posts.

Thein Sein has said in recent comments that he would leave behind anyone who is against reform.

Over the past year, his government has spearheaded unprecedented change in Burma, relaxing decades of harsh rule and allowing freedoms previously unheard of in the South-East Asian nation. Media censorship has eased dramatically, the government has signed ceasefire deals with multiple armed insurgent groups, and crucial investment laws are being rewritten.

But major challenges remain. Rights groups say the rule of law is weak, corruption is strong, and fighting continues in the north between ethnic Kachin rebels and government forces.

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