Female MP taking on Suu Kyi in election

BOOTED from Aung San Suu Kyi’s “chaotic and autocratic” party, one female MP is now taking on Myanmar’s national heroine in the upcoming election, claiming the country needs to work with, not against, a military accused of genocide.

Voters are expected to return Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party to power in the Nov 8 polls – only the second since the country emerged from decades of outright military rule – but Thet Thet Khine (pic) is still hoping to make her mark.

She has undergone many incarnations, from student activist to medical doctor then businesswoman and jewellery magnate – before being elected as an NLD MP at Suu Kyi’s side in 2015.

But she has since fallen from grace.

Ousted from the NLD last year – she says for speaking her mind – the 53-year-old hopes to entice voters to her People’s Pioneer Party (PPP).

She describes a collective leadership in her relatively youthful PPP, where the average candidate’s age is 46. The party promises more jobs, higher wages and lower taxes.

“The NLD is no longer the solution for the country,” she said at her Yangon mansion decorated with neoclassical columns, chandeliers and goldtrimmed furniture.

“The way the party is run is very chaotic and autocratic,” she says, claiming that loyalty is valued over competence, and that there is a culture of micromanagement and an overriding fear of upsetting The Lady.

“One person makes all the decisions,” Thet Thet Khine said.

There is also widespread disillusionment with the NLD in many ethnic minority areas, but the party boasts a loyal fanbase in the dominant Bamar heartlands. And, for many, Suu Kyi embodies the NLD.

Thet Thet Khine says speaking out publicly has meant that she and her relatives have faced online abuse.

Her family made its wealth in Myanmar’s prized ruby industry.

Running in under a third of constituencies, Thet Thet Khine says she would be happy to clinch 5% of seats, admitting that this was a dry run for the 2025 election.

Suu Kyi “doesn’t believe in a succession plan, so after her era ... the NLD will go bankrupt in business terms”.

“But I think she will hold on to power until her last day.”