Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein has apologised to Tatmadaw Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing over comments made earlier this month, the Tatmadaw said on Sunday.
The apology was dated July 13, the Tatmadaw said on the official Facebook page of the Commander-in-Chief.
The Tatmadaw had asked the National League for Democracy government to take action against Phyo Min Thein in a statement on its official Facebook page on July 11, saying his comments had threatened the government’s policy of “national reconciliation”.
The request followed comments made by the chief minister at a workshop in Yangon on July 9, held to discuss employment opportunities for former political prisoners.
“There are no civil-military relations in the democratic era,” Phyo Min Thein was quoted as telling the workshop. “The military should be under civil administrative rule and the commander-in-chief position is the same as a director-general in accordance with protocol. But we are now dealing with the [commander-in-chief] as head of state. This is not democracy,” he said.
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State Counsellor’s Office spokesman U Zaw Htay told Frontier on Friday that Phyo Min Thein’s had led to a “misunderstanding” between the military and the government, adding that Phyo Min Thein had been directed to resolve the issue.
The Tatmadaw did not say in its Sunday Facebook post if the apology had been accepted.
