I n the latest episode of a series of scandals concerning NLD-affiliated public officials, Mon State Chief Minister Min Min Oo has been put under investigation after the party’s central executive committee received complaint letters, supposedly with evidence, against him.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) formed a tripartite probe team comprising three senior members of the party – Nyan Win, a member of the NLD central executive committee, Kyaw Ho, a lawyer, and Myo Nyunt, chief at the NLD’s MP complaint division. The team refused to disclose the details about the allegations, saying it would not be appropriate to comment before the enquiry came to an end.
Min Min Oo, who was nominated by President Htin Kyaw to become Mon State Chief Minister following his election as a parliamentarian for Mon State Legislature representing the NLD, was only among a group of NLD members who were reported with unidentifiable accusations. But it is known that the complaints came from MPs at the state legislature, not from the general public, with the petition being signed by 10 regional MPs.
In a concurrent incident with the Min Min Oo saga, Speaker of Tanintharyi Region Legislature Khin Maung Aye was also reported by fellow MPs. The complaints relate to the Speaker’s parliamentary functional activities including a tendering process for the construction of a new regional Hluttaw (legislature) building, according to the investigative group that also consists of Nyan Win, Kyaw Ho and Myo Nyunt. The team members declined to make further comments.
Deputy Speaker Kyi Soe was also subjected to the complaints along with his Speaker. Khin Maung Aye said in a media interview that the complaints against him and the deputy Speaker were largely “personal” and “based on social media posts” published against them. The NLD holds all of the 21 elected seats at Tanintharyi Region Legislature.
Despite just nine months in power, the public admiration for NLD party has been continuously marred by successive scandalous incidents of its members assigned with various public offices. Drunken MP Nyan Lin was involved in a KTV lounge brawl with some motel staff in Shwe Pyithar on October 1, facing charges for the incident. In a separate motel event, MP Soe Moe Thu was allegedly caught in an extramarital affair in Mandalay Region. MP Sein Win, who is the chairperson of the Hluttaw’s Farmers and Workers Affairs Committee, was dismissed from his leadership post in connection with a lawsuit he filed against another NLD MP Thet Ko Lay, the local NLD leader for Maubin township and a central executive member of the NLD’s Ayeyarwady Region branch.
A three-member tribunal was launched at the appeals of the sacked Shan State party members to assess NLD CEC member and official spokesperson Win Htein’s conduct, who personally dismissed them in Taunggyi (Capital of Shan State) in September for the accusations of not cooperating with the party’s campaign efforts.
Recently, the removal of Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation Tun Win from his position also sparked an intense public debate. In addition to reputation of the party members, the party elders’ management style over its membership also raised controversies. The authoritarian rhetoric and conduct by party seniors, including such person as Win Htein, has upset the general members and public. It has long been alleged that there is infighting between the dividing sects in the top-level membership within the NLD.
