26/02/2026

THURSDAY | FEB 26, 2026

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New role for retired Myanmar general

o Military set to dominate politics

“This is a position with a high capacity for influence and action. If one cannot be president, the position of speaker of the Hluttaw (parliament) is the one that allows for the greatest exercise of power” he said. Two other members present at a recent USDP meeting said Khin Yi, a former immigration minister, had been asked informally if he would be vice-president and responded by saying he would take a key parliamentary role. One of the sources quoted Khin Yi as saying at the meeting: “What is certain is that I think I will be leading in the legislative sectors of one of the houses of parliament.” – Reuters

during the recent election, effectively putting the legislature under the military’s control. In addition, a new five member panel, the Union Consultative Council, will be set up to oversee both military and civilian administrations.

likely to become first and second vice-presidents. “Since there are high ranking former military officers within the party, understanding their roles, the highest possible position for him would likely be the speaker of the lower house,” the source said, speaking of Khin Yi. Myanmar’s unique power sharing system gives control of 25% of legislative seats to the military that has ruled the country for five of the past six decades, and also control of the ministries of defence, border affairs and interior. The USDP won 81% of available seats in the upper and lower houses

and Development Party (USDP), which the military formed in 2010. Three USDP sources told Reuters the party’s chairman, Khin Yi (pic) , a retired brigadier-general and former police chief, is tipped to take the pivotal post of lower house speaker. In that role, he would oversee the election of a new president, the passage of laws and the approval of budgets and key state appointments. The USDP did not respond to requests for comment on Khin Yi’s future role. One of the sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said retired generals with close ties to State Administration Council chairman Min Aung Hlaing were Intelligence Service chief in 2019 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president, had been accused of involvement in organising the suicide bombings, a charge he has denied. Sallay was employed in the intelligence unit that funded the group. The government at the time admitted the military was behind the radical group. More than 500 people were wounded in the bombings, which crippled the island nation’s lucrative tourism industry. US authorities in 2021 charged three Sri Lankans for supporting the Easter attacks, in which five US nationals were killed. The three are among 25 suspects indicted in Sri Lanka’s High Court. The Supreme Court fined then president Maithripala Sirisena and four senior officials more than US$1.03 million (RM4 million) in a civil case for their failure to prevent the attacks. The UN has asked Sri Lanka to publish parts of previous inquiries into the bombings that were withheld from the public. – AFP

YANGON: A retired general from an army-backed party that swept Myanmar’s election is set to take the powerful role of speaker of parliament, party sources said, which could help the military cement control of government after a return to democratic rule. A military government that has run Myanmar since a 2021 coup will formally cede power after a new parliament meets next month, with the top generals expected to loom large in politics after a resounding election win by the Union Solidarity

Experts say such a move will allow Min Aung Hlaing to become president without loosening his grip on the armed forces. The post of speaker, held previously by political heavyweights, offers greater clout than the prestigious but largely ceremonial role of vice-president, said political analyst Htin Kyaw Aye.

Sri Lanka arrests ex-spy chief over 2019 bombings

COLOMBO: Criminal investigators in Sri Lanka have arrested the country’s former intelligence chief yesterday in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279 people, including 45 foreigners. Police said retired Major-Gen Suresh Sallay was taken into custody at dawn in a suburb of Colombo. “He was arrested for conspiracy and aiding and abetting the Easter Sunday attacks,” said an investigating officer. “He has been in touch with people involved in the attacks, even recently.” The coordinated bombings targeted three upmarket hotels in the capital, two Roman Catholic churches and an evangelical Protestant church outside Colombo. The attacks were blamed on a homegrown group. The attack became the worst against civilians in a country where at least 100,000 people had been killed in a Tamil separatist war that ended in May 2009 after nearly four decades of violence. Sallay, who was promoted to State

Rauzah (left) salvages items from her damaged home in Meurah Dua, Pidie Jaya district. – AFPPIC

Sumatra flood survivors frustrated by slow aid response BANDA ACEH: Normally, Indonesian mother-of-four Rauzah would cook a feast for her family to break their Ramadan fast. This year, she makes do as best she can in the orange tent where they have been sheltering for three months. As the weeks pass and donations dwindle, survivors question how long they will be left in limbo after the worst disaster to strike Aceh since a 2004 tsunami. revoked forestry permits in the wake of the disaster. But they have shrugged off offers of international aid, even after the estimated cost to rebuild soared past US$3.1 billion (RM12 billion).

Indonesia deports US convict DENPASAR: An American convicted of killing the mother of his then-pregnant teenage girlfriend at a luxury hotel was deported on Tuesday after his early release from prison. Tommy Schaefer (pic) , 32,

Schaefer by his initials. Heather Mack, Schaefer’s then-girlfriend, was given 10 years on a lesser charge of assisting what was dubbed the “suitcase murder”. She was deported in 2021,

President Prabowo Subianto has refused calls to declare a national disaster to release emergency funds, and declined international assistance, describing the situation as “under control”. In Pidie Jaya district, not much has changed since the muddy torrent swallowed homes. “My village still looks as if the disaster just happened. The houses are still buried in mud,” Rauzah said. Unusually intense monsoon rains pummelled parts of South and Southeast Asia in November and December, triggering landslides and floods. Across the three inundated provinces on Sumatra, more than 1,200 people were killed and nearly 140 others remain missing, according to the national disaster agency. Authorities have blamed the scale of devastation partly on uncontrolled logging, and have

In the provincial capital Banda Aceh, student groups and civil society organisations have descended on the local parliament to demand greater mobilisation of national resources. Home Minister Tito Karnavian, who leads a reconstruction task force in Sumatra, told lawmakers on Feb 18 that only 8,300 temporary structures, roughly half of the 16,688 planned, have been built. And fewer than 10% of the 16,300 homes the government promised exist so far. Reni and her teenage daughters were among those relocated to a tightly packed temporary housing warehouse in Pidie Jaya district last month. “We’re grateful that at least we have a place like this now. But still, a lot of the promises weren’t kept,” said the 37-year-old whose house was partially swept away. – AFP

They are among 26,000 flood survivors still displaced after a monsoon deluge struck their villages in Sumatra last year. In hardest-hit Aceh province, which accounted for most of the more than 1,000 deaths, families have become increasingly frustrated over the sluggish aid response. Many remain crammed in temporary shelters or a cluster of tents, with little expectation of returning to their mud-caked homes any time soon. Seated on a thin carpet covering the cardboard floor, Rauzah and her four children share an iftar meal of vegetables and prawns. But at least they are dry and safe. “I still feel traumatised,” said the 42-year-old, who goes by one name. “Whenever it rains, I get anxious. I keep thinking about the children, about how I would save them.”

and according to the US Justice Department, is serving a 26-year sentence in the United States for conspiracy to murder her mother. Schaefer, the father of Mack’s child, beat the 62-year-old victim to death with a fruit bowl during an argument at the five-star St Regis resort in Bali. The couple then stuffed the woman’s body into a suitcase and tried to flee with it in a taxi but quickly abandoned the blood-soaked luggage. Speaking ahead of his deportation on Tuesday, Schaefer apologised to the family of von Wiese Mack. “I’m sorry. I’ve always been sorry. I’ve always been apologetic,” he said. – AFP

was released last week from prison in Bali and moved to an immigration detention facility on Friday. He boarded a flight on Tuesday bound for the United States, said a local immigration official. A Bali court sentenced Schaefer in 2015 to 18 years in prison for the murder of Sheila von Wiese Mack. He was released seven years early for good behaviour. “After TS completed his sentence, our duty is to ensure that he is not within our sovereign territory, considering that the serious crime he committed has disturbed public order and prevailing legal norms,” local immigration agency head Felucia Sengky Ratna said, referring to