Ousted from Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD, one female MP is now taking on Myanmar's national heroine in the upcoming election, and claims the country needs to work with, not against, the military.
Voters are expected to return Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party to power at the November 8 polls -- only the second since the country emerged from decades of outright military rule -- but Thet Thet Khine 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.
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).
"The NLD is no longer the solution for the country," she tells AFP at her Yangon mansion, decorated with neoclassical columns, chandeliers and gold-trimmed furniture.
"The way the party is run is very chaotic and very autocratic," she says, claiming loyalty is valued over competence, and that there is a culture of micro-management and an overriding fear of upsetting The Lady.
"One person makes all the decisions."
There is 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.
She leads the government as state counsellor, holds the reins to international relations as foreign minister and has been front and centre in the country's fight against coronavirus.
Thet Thet Khine's family made its wealth in Myanmar's prized ruby industry.
As a medical student, she joined the pro-democracy movement that swept the country in 1988 before it was suppressed.
After the crackdown, she chose business but returned to politics after the country emerged from military rule.
Now head of her own party in a fiercely patriarchal society, 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 although gives few details about how this would be financed.
The PPP is running in under a third of constituencies, Thet Thet Khine says she would be happy to clinch five percent of seats, admitting this is a dry run for the 2025 election.
Additional reporting AFP
