A one-time ally of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday that she was no traitor for accepting a ministerial post with the junta that overthrew the elected leader this week.
Social welfare minister Thet Thet Khine told Reuters the new military government was inclusive and committed to democracy in one of the first interviews that any member of the new government has given since the coup on Monday.
“The fact the armed forces say they will continue to act according to the law, we have to welcome it gladly,” she said. “I am not betraying the country.”
Thet Thet Khine had fallen out with Suu Kyi in 2018, long before last year’s election and had described the Nobel laureate as a “control freak” whose ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party could not fix Myanmar’s problems.
The army overthrew Suu Kyi on Monday and detained her, drawing international condemnation that included a call from the U.N. Security Council call for the release of the Nobel Peace laureate…