Suu Kyi’s party proposes law to make her president’s ‘boss’

YANGON, Myanmar — The party of Aung San Suu Kyi submitted a proposal to parliament on Thursday to create a new position for her as “state adviser,” which would allow her to have a powerful hand in running Myanmar.

The move marked the first legislative act of Myanmar’s new government, which took office a day earlier to become the first democratically elected government after more than 50 years of military control.

Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate who had endured decades of house arrest and harassment by military rulers then led her party to a landslide win in November elections, could not become president because of a junta-era Constitution crafted to keep her out of the post.

[...] the new draft law would give her legal authority to hold a powerful role in decision making, said Khin Maung Myint, an NLD lawmaker in the upper house.

Suu Kyi, 70, has also taken on four Cabinet posts, as Myanmar’s new minister of foreign affairs, education, energy and the president’s office.