The latest shakeup isn’t much of a shakeup.
Hmuu Zaw, aka Zaw Htay, is the new spokesman for the president’s office under the Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.
If his name sounds familiar, that’s because he served in a similar capacity under the previous administration. In politics, it’s rare for someone that high up to survive such a big change in leadership, but the NLD has shown willingness to keep on former ruling party stalwarts as a way of showing inclusivity. It’s not a bad idea.
The new/old spokesman announced the news earlier today on his widely followed Facebook page, and the comments section was quickly inundated with congratulatory notes, with the occasional not so congratulatory note included.
He sought to clarify his new role in an interview with the Voice Weekly, saying he was only a spokesman for the president’s office and not the president himself.
“The position for spokeperson of the president is not [yet] appointed.”
Not sure what the difference is there, but time will tell.
A few things to remember about Hmuu Zaw/Zaw Htay: He once published an essay that more or less praised Donald Trump, and his angry Facebook post about the poet Maung Saungkha’s bawdy verse is thought to have led to the 24-year-old’s arrest in November last year.
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