Irrawaddy-Aug 19
Min Aung Hlaing has reshuffled a so-called think-tank tasked with feeding him with “innovative ideas and policy suggestions” on international relations, stacking the organization with yes-men. The Myanmar Institute for Strategic and International Studies (MISIS) has been brought back under the control of the Foreign Ministry, with junta-linked figures dominating the body. The junta’s foreign minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, who served in the same capacity under the U Thein Sein government, and international cooperation minister, U Ko Ko Hlaing, who served as an adviser to U Thein Sein’s government, serve as patrons of the think-tank tasked with assessing and researching regional and international affairs. The executive secretary of the think-tank is the director-general of the Strategic Studies and Training Department, U Zaw Phyo Wai, a son-in-law of former military dictator Than Shwe. The MISIS was established in 1992 by the then regime, which called itself the State Law and Order Restoration Council, with the foreign minister as the chairman and director generals of various government departments as members. It was then called the Myanmar Strategic and International Studies Division, tasked with studying regional and international peace- and security-related issues. It was re-established in 2013 as an independent think-tank, and named the MISIS, but continued to be dominated by military figures. Among the members were senior officials from the National Defense College and Directorate of Military Research, former civil servants and prominent scholars. Reconstituted as a 32-member think-tank by the current regime, it comprises individuals who have continuously spoken ill of the National League for Democracy since the U Thein Sein-led Union Solidarity and Development Party was defeated in the 2015 general election. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-chief-turns-to-officials-of-former-regime-for-foreign-policy-advice.html
