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          Myanmar Government Plan Includes New Ethnic Affairs Ministry

   by VOA News

   Myanmar's incoming government has released its plan for a new
   government, including a new ethnic-affairs ministry for the nation
   scarred by sectarian tensions and repression of some ethnic groups.

   New president Htin Kyaw submitted his proposal Thursday, with a
   parliamentary debate on it scheduled for Friday.

   The plan includes the ethnic ministry in a wider civil service reform
   plan aimed at streamlining the bureaucracy left behind by the military
   government that ruled Myanmar for decades. A Cabinet of 36 ministries
   is expected to be slimmed down to 21.

   The military government had been accused of cracking down on ethnic
   Rohingya in northern Rakhine State, in response to riots in 2012
   between the primarily Muslim Rohingya and the primarily Buddhist
   Rakhine. In recent years, Rohingya have been fleeing Myanmar by boat to
   the neighboring nations of Thailand and Malaysia.
   Myanmar is home to a number of other ethnic groups including Shan,
   Bamar, and Kachin.

   ''


   First civilian president
   On Tuesday 70-year-old Htin Kyaw was chosen to become Myanmar's first
   civilian president in more than five decades, receiving 360 of the 652
   votes cast to defeat two other candidates.
   His election was a foregone conclusion. He is a childhood friend and
   longtime confidant of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of
   the National League for Democracy, which took both chambers of
   parliament in November's historic elections.

   ''


   Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from becoming president, due to a provision
   in the constitution that prohibits anyone with a foreign-born spouse or
   children. Her late husband and two sons are British. But she has vowed
   to rule the country through a proxy candidate.

   Htin Kyaw will assume office on April 1, formally ending more than 50
   years of complete or partial military rule.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/myanmar-government-plan-includes-new-
   ministry-for-ethnic-affairs/3241605.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/myanmar-government-plan-includes-new-ministry-for-ethnic-affairs/3241605.html