The National Unity Government (NUG) announced a restructuring on Dec. 8, which has reduced the size of its cabinet and reassigned several ministers.
“I’ve just retired,” Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, the former NUG Minister for Women, Youth and Children Affairs, told DVB. “But I will support the NUG as an adviser.”
Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe was among the four ministers and three deputy ministers to have their positions made redundant from the group of elected lawmakers ousted during the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
The NUG also disbanded four of its ministries. Besides Naw Susanna’s Ministry of Women, Youth, and Children Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Communications, Information and Technology, and the Ministry of International Cooperation, were all dissolved.
Whether all staff or technical teams have been removed from their positions in these ministries, or are expected to continue under merged ministries or downgraded directorates, is unclear.
Key figures like Zaw Wai Soe, the former NUG Minister for Health and Education, was reassigned to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Ja Htoi Pan, the former Deputy Minister of Education, was promoted to Minister of Education. Shwe Pon, the former Deputy Minister of Health, was promoted to Minister of Health.
The NUG, formed in April 2021 by representatives of elected lawmakers, ethnic nationalities, and civil society groups which oppose the 2021 coup, had 17 ministries.
It was attempting to replicate the pre-coup National League for Democracy (NLD) government with many of the NUG’s core members coming from the NLD.
State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, held incommunicado by the military since the 2021 coup, have been included in the NUG leadership but have been unable to play any role in the democratic opposition to the regime, which seized power in Naypyidaw during the coup.
Founded in 1988, the NLD party has won three landslide election victories under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi. First in 1990, then back-to-back in the 2015 and 2020 elections.
But after the 2021 coup, which overturned the results of the 2020 elections, hundreds of NLD members were either arrested or forced to flee underground or into exile to avoid arrest.
The NLD party was dissolved in 2023 by the regime’s Union Election Commission for not re-registering, which has made the NUG the only democratic opposition to the regime in Naypyidaw.
Following the NUG restructuring, 12 ministries remain. This includes the ministries of Defence; Foreign Affairs; Planning, Finance and Investment; Health; Education; Federal Union Affairs; Home Affairs and Immigration; Human Rights; Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation; Justice; Electricity and Energy; and Social Welfare, Labour and Humanitarian Assistance.
Nay Phone Latt, the NUG spokesperson, declined to comment when contacted by DVB to ask when reforms were expected.
Moe Htet Nay, a research and political adviser at Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, said that restructuring is not the reform people in Myanmar expect from the NUG.
“We expected more people from ethnic resistance organizations, who are militarily leading and capable of combat, to be included [in leadership positions],” he told DVB.
“There still hasn’t been strong coordination between the [ethnic armed resistance] and the NUG. It’s hard to call this a successful reform without leaders agreed upon by most ethnic organizations.”
NUG Acting President Duwa Lashi La said in a speech that internal restructuring was the first phase of reform and that it had been completed on Dec. 8.
He acknowledged the fact that the NUG has yet to achieve unified collaboration with other resistance groups, which is expected by the public.
Duwa Lashi La added that the barriers to unification are rooted not just in the resistance to the 2021 coup, but in decades of division created by previous military regimes.
“Upon examination, we found that the 60-plus years of civil war has been the breeding ground for historical grudges, ethnic hatred, and resentment,” he said.
“Successive military dictatorships actively worked to break trust within society through ethnic divide-and-rule policies.”
Ethnic resistance groups and their allied People’s Defense Forces (PDF), have seized 103 towns since the 2021 coup. Most are in northern Shan and Arakan states, as well as Sagaing Region, where resistance groups are most actively fighting against regime forces.
The NUG restructuring and expected reforms follows a wave of criticism, most notably from Mandalay pro-democracy leader Tayzar San, who accused the NUG of inefficiency, internal stumbles, and a lack of urgency in leading the resistance movement.
The NUG states that around 300 PDF units operate nationwide under its Central Command and Coordination Committee (C3C) and Joint Command and Coordination (J2C).
The NUG also oversees Local Defense Forces (LDF) and People’s Defense Teams (PDT), known in Burmese by the acronym PaKaPa, which is a community-based security and administration network operating in areas controlled by resistance forces.
“I didn’t expect anything special from this reform, but it looks like they just consolidated ministries with the same people from the same circle,” a PDF member told DVB on the condition of anonymity.
“Unless leaders who can strengthen the revolution emerge, the revolution will remain weak,” the PDF member added.
The NUG stated that it is expanding cooperation with three emerging federal units in Myanmar following the model of “bottom-up” federalism.
The Interim Chin National Consultative Council (ICNCC), which was formed by Chin resistance groups in April 2021, the Karenni Interim Executive Council (IEC), which was established by Karenni resistance groups in June 2023, as well as the Sagaing Federal Unit Hluttaw (SFUH), which was set up by resistance groups in Sagaing Region last month, all seek to see Myanmar adopt federalism as its system of governance.
“It seems like they only slightly consolidated the old frame,” said Soe Win Swe, the spokesperson for the Sagaing Forum, a coordination body that supports the SFUH to build a federal democratic Sagaing Region.
“We want more leaders with progressive views who align with the revolution on the ground. It’s too early to assess whether this reshuffled NUG can deliver the military and political changes needed,” added Soe Win Swe.
The NUG leadership acknowledged concerns from other resistance groups in Myanmar, stating that the internal restructuring is only the beginning and broader political reforms will take time.
“People can criticize us freely,” Duwa Lashi La concluded. “But we want to honestly explain our situation. Although we wished to move forward with unified leadership from the start, we have faced obstacles and limitations. We promise to keep working hard.”
