Myanmar speaker sees coalition with Suu Kyi

June 15, 2013  

The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP)--The chief of Myanmar’s pro-military party said he would not rule out a coalition government with the opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi after crucial elections in 2015 if it is in the national interest.

In the past two weeks, both lower house Speaker Shwe Mann and Nobel laureate Suu Kyi have said they want to run for president. The election will be crucial in setting Myanmar’s political direction as it shifts from decades of authoritarian rule.

Shwe Mann made the comments Thursday during a visit to Washington with a multiparty delegation of Myanmar lawmakers, one of them from Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. Shwe Mann was third-ranking member of the repressive junta that imprisoned Suu Kyi for years.

Shwe Mann said his party is collaborating with Suu Kyi, who was elected to parliament last year. Asked if a coalition was possible after the election, he said it was too soon to say whether or not that would happen, but indicated it was possible.

“I believe time will decide on this matter. But the important thing here is to have confidence between Aung San Suu Kyi and us,” he said through an interpreter.

Few epitomize Myanmar’s dramatic transition from pariah state to aspiring democracy as powerfully as Shwe Mann, a 65-year-old former general who was a trusted lieutenant of junta chief Than Shwe. A March 2007 diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Yangon released by WikiLeaks even dubbed him a “dictator-in-waiting.” He also led a secret 2008 trip to North Korea, reportedly to reach agreement on missile technology.

But as Myanmar has changed direction, so has Shwe Mann. He is now viewed as a committed reformer and closer to Suu Kyi than the current President Thein Sein who has led the nation’s political changes.

Shwe Mann recently replaced Thein Sein as head of the Union Solidarity and Development Party, which dominates the fledgling legislature. His influence also extends into the still-powerful military he served in for four decades.

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