Three years after coup, Myanmar junta chief’s power in doubt

In mid-January, at a small gathering in a cantonment town in Myanmar, hard line pro-military monk Pauk Kotaw suggested that the country’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing step down and his deputy take over. The crowd cheered in agreement, according to videos of the event posted on social media.

Online, pro-military journalists and bloggers have been similarly direct. “He should resign as commander-in-chief,” Ko Maung Maung, a pro-military Youtuber said in a post.

Such public utterances against Myanmar’s powerful junta leader and the chief of its armed forces would have been unthinkable just a few months ago.