U Tin Tun Naing (top left), U Lwin Ko Latt (top right), Daw Zin Mar Aung (bottom left) and Dr. Zaw Wai Soe.

YANGON—In its latest challenge to the legitimacy of the country’s military regime, a committee representing elected Myanmar lawmakers from the overthrown ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) appointed four acting ministers on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) said that since the military’s “illegitimate” arrest of President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the cabinet had not been able to perform its duties. The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw is Myanmar’s Union Parliament.

According to the statement, four people, three of them from the NLD, have been appointed as acting ministers “to assume the duties on behalf of cabinet members.”

Daw Zin Mar Aung, who was elected to the Lower House representing Yangon’s Yankin Township in the Nov. 8 general election, was appointed acting foreign affairs minister. She is a member of the CRPH.

The committee also appointed U Lwin Ko Latt to serve concurrently as acting President’s Office minister and Union Government Office minister. In the Nov. 8 vote, he was elected as a Lower House lawmaker representing Thanlyin Township in Yangon. He is currently a member of the CRPH.

Another elected Lower House lawmaker from the NLD, U Tin Tun Naing, was appointed acting minister for three crucial three economic ministries: Planning, Finance and Industry; Investment and Foreign Economic Relations; and Commerce.

The CRPH also chose Dr. Zaw Wai Soe as acting minister for three ministries: Labor, Immigration and Population; Education; and Health and Sports. The University of Medicine 1 Yangon rector has played a leading role in Yangon’s COVID-19 fight since last year.

He strongly condemned the military coup and is participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement against the military regime, having refused to serve in the military’s cabinet.

Among the CRPH’s members are 17 elected NLD lawmakers. The self-declared parliamentary committee was formed after the coup to counter military rule.

The NLD won Myanmar’s Nov. 8 general election in a landslide. NLD candidates won 920 of the 1,117 elected seats nationwide, including seats in both houses of the bicameral Union Parliament and the state/regional parliaments, as well as ethnic affairs minister posts.

On Feb. 1, the military staged a coup just hours before the new NLD-dominated Parliament was set to convene, claiming it was forced to act over what it called electoral fraud in the Nov. 8 general election.

The Irrawaddy

• The Irrawaddy 2 March 2021:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/defying-military-regime-myanmars-crph-names-four-acting-ministers.html

Myanmar’s Military Council Labeled ’Terrorist Group’

The CRPH, the committee representing the elected lawmakers of the ousted National League for Democracy, labeled Myanmar’s military governing body, the State Administrative Council (SAC), as a “terrorist group” on Monday for its lawlessness in arresting democratically elected leaders and for terrorizing protesters with killings and violence.

The announcement followed the nationwide bloody Sunday crackdown on peaceful protesters by the police and soldiers, which left at least 18 dead, according to the United Nations.

Since the Feb. 1 coup, 23 people, aged 17 to 59, have been killed, according to media reports and relatives’ testimony.

The military seized power from the democratically elected government on Feb. 1 and detained civilian leaders and pro-democracy activists.

The CRPH (Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw) said the military’s action is “in contravention of the existing laws”.

The military established the SAC with generals and few members from political parties, which had been defeated in the November general election. It changed the law, removing privacy legislation and freedom of expression and threatened to arrest anyone insulting the SAC.

Since the Feb. 1 coup, more than 1,000 people have been detained.

The CRHP said it “condemns in the strongest terms all atrocities and acts of terrorism committed by the putschists”.

The illegitimate putschists’ crimes include shooting live rounds, explosives, rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons at protesters. They beat and arrest peaceful protesters, civil servants taking part in the civil disobedience movement, activists, community leaders and students, said the committee.

“Such crimes amount to the declaration of war on unarmed civilians.”

In late February protesters began using shields and making barricades to defend their neighborhoods from the authorities.

“Due to the atrocities and acts of terrorism of the military, streets and communities across Myanmar have become battlefields. There have been many civilian fatalities and the life, liberty and security of the people are under constant threats due to the acts of terrorism committed by the illegitimate military council,” said the CRPH.

The Irrawaddy

• The Irrawaddy 2 March 2021:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmars-military-council-labeled-terrorist-group.html