Min Aung Hlaing seized control in 2021 and plunged Myanmar into conflict and economic chaos
Myanmar’s military has been likened to a state within a state !!
The former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi no longer poses a threat, however. the 80-year-old has been detained since the 2021 coup.
“He will not trust anybody [enough] to take orders from [them] – he would want to deliver the orders,” said Yanghee Lee, a former special rapporteur for Myanmar.
He also added that Min Aung Hlaing is more often seen as a paranoid and also suspicious person.
Min Aung Hlaing, the military general who plunged Myanmar into conflict and economic chaos when he took power in the 2021 coup has been appointed president, months after widely condemned sham elections.
Min Aung Hlaing, who is wanted by the prosecutor of the international criminal court for crimes against humanity against the Rohingya Muslim minority, was voted president by lawmakers on Friday. Myanmar’s parliament is dominated by the pro-military party, which won a landslide in one-sided elections earlier this year.
Analysts say Min Aung Hlaing has long sought the role but for years his ambitions were thwarted by the electoral success of the hugely popular Aung San Suu Kyi.
When Suu Kyi's government was ousted from power, her party too was banned from contesting recent elections, which were held across three phases from December (2025) to January this year.
The general, 69, was born into a family from Dawei, in south east of Myanmar. He studied law at university in Yangon, but longed to join the military and on his third attempt was admitted to the Defence Services Academy, the country’s elite institution for training officers.
Myanmar’s military has been likened to a state within a state, siloed from the rest of society with its own banks, companies, news outlets and hospitals.
It considers itself the protector of Myanmar as a Buddhist Bamar nation– Bamar referring to the majority ethnic group.
Security issues vis-a-vis India:
Notably, Myanmar definitely is at the heart of the ‘golden triangle’ of narcotics smuggling - two other countries being Laos and Thailand.
Drug abuse and smuggling is maximum in Manipur for decades now.
The Modi government likes a friendly and pragmatic policy towards Myanmar.
Therefore, the old emotions about democracy is a thing of bygone era.
India is now open to do business with whichever government is in power in Myanmar.
For that matter even with Bangladesh; New Delhi has made an extra ordinary rounds of outreach.
I visited Myanmar border areas in Mizoram side in January this year.
Security analysts in Mizoram state capital, Aizawl, say New Delhi depends a lot on Myanmar to deny Indian insurgents their key forest bases.
On the other hand, the military junta could be China-friendly, yet the Tatmadaw (military dispensation) relies on Indian support in limiting the Arakan Army and for other welfare measures like Covid vaccines.
Of course a large number of Myanmar citizens are already in Mizoram since the 2021 coup; yet the Government of India has not called them 'refugees' officially.
The humanitarian assistance continues and the Mizoram government is shouldering it.
Jacob, a shy Class VI student from Myanmar, studies in Zokhawthar in Mizoram.
“Hindi… theamlo,” he said softly. “I know English.” His dream, if God—Lal Pa—wills it, is to become a pilot.
Asked about home, his voice dropped. “My country is burning every day. I am grateful to India and my Mizo brothers and sisters. A big kalawmein.”
Zokhawthar (India) and Rihkhawdar (Myanmar), formalised as a border trade point in 1994, remain a critical—if largely informal—economic lifeline.
Agricultural goods such as beans, pulses, vegetables, fruits, spices, and tobacco dominate trade. For nearly six per cent of Mizoram’s population, livelihoods are tied directly or indirectly to this exchange.
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| Someone who crosses international boundary daily |
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