Myanmar’s Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) on November 17 approved a proposal to print an image of General Aung on future banknotes.
The motion was made by MP Aung Khin Win from Myaing constituency where nine MPs had discussed the proposal, with eight supporting it and the ninth, the military-appointed Lt-Colonel Kyaw Min Hlaing suggested not printing the proposed banknotes at this time.
In the 60-year span from 1952 to 2012, new banknotes were printed 19 times. Kyaw Min Hlaing said banknote images of lions, peacocks and elephants do not represent organisations or groups of Myanmar’s people, printing new notes costs a lot of money, and the country’s economy is now slow. Good reasons are needed for printing new notes, he suggested.
MP Win Win from Minbu constituency said that the proposal was not meant to replace the current banknotes of various denominations from circulation with all-new banknotes, but to urge the parliament to print future banknotes with an image of General Aung San.Pictures of Aung San, the father of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, were first printed on currency notes in 1958, 10 years after he was assassinated along with eight of his colleagues.
When chairman of the Lower House Win Myint asked if there were any objections, the entire 107 military appointed MPs and one MP from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (the former ruling party) stood up against a motion to immediately reinstate the image of the country’s former independence hero on the country’s currency.
MP Wint Wah Tun seconded the proposal. Vice-chairman of the Central Bank, Soe Min, submitted the proposal for approval.It was defeated by votes from 286 lawmakers from the ruling National League for Democracy party and other lawmakers who supported reinstating the former general’s image of the currency, which was phased out by the former military junta.
Source : elevenmyanmar
