Myanmar political pundits and observers are mulling the question of who will be the next Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services.

Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing who is serving as Commander-in-Chief in two democratic governments will be 65 years old in 2021.

According to the statement issued by the National Security Council in 2016, Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services can serve until the age of 65.

The Tatmadaw offered some hints in the press conference held on November 27 that Senior General Min Aung Hlaing might retire in the coming year.

If the current Commander-in-Chief retires, who will become the next Commander-in-Chief?

Mizzima has looked for the opinions of some political observers and military observers.

According to the observers, there could be about 10 people who have the potential to become the next Commander-in-Chief.

Among those, the most popular two are current Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Vice-Senior General Soe Win and Chief of General Staff (Army, Navy and Airforce) General Mya Tun Oo.

When the Commander-in-Chief was appointed by the Tatmadaw, senior and junior grades have to be included too.

The current Commander-in-Chief is a graduate of the 19th batch of DSA.

Therefore, many people guess that the next Commander-in-Chief could be chosen from the DSA batch-30 and before who are holding the top most positions of the Tatmadaw.

Vice-Senior General Soe Win is from DSA batch-22.

When the Commander-in-Chief retires, although the Deputy Commander-in-Chief has to take his place, Vice-Senior General Soe Win is already around 60 years old now and there could be a limitation in age, according to some observers.

“However, according to the Tatmadaw press conference, officials said they will continue the process as standard so Vice-Senior General Soe Win might become the Commander-in-Chief.”

Another one is the third most powerful official in the armed forces, General Mya Tun Oo who is from DSA batch-25 and responsible for the budget of military and arms.

He has served as the chief of military security affairs and commander of Eastern Central Command.

After that he served as army chief of staff in the Department of Defense Army and is now serving as

Chief of General Staff (Army, Navy and Airforce).

“They don’t usually appoint someone who is from a younger batch as Commander-in-Chief. They won’t and they never will.

So my first guess is ... If I have to guess two or three things, the first one is Mya Tun Oo who could become Commander-in-Chief.

If he becomes Commander-in-Chief, someone who is from batch 26 might become Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Lieutenant General Thet Pon around batch 28 or 30, maybe from 29 could become the Chief of General Staff., only he became Lieutenant General in batch 29. I think he might be promoted.

If it’s not happening, if they appoint the Commander-in-Chief from batch 28, 29 might be Deputy Commander-in-Chief and 30 might be Chief of General Staff.”

If none of these two are chosen, Lt-Gen Myo Zaw Thein, previously Yangon regional commander and now adjutant general who is from DSA batch-28 and Lt-Gen Aung Soe who was from DSA batch-26 are also included in the watch list.

Since Former Senior General Than Shwe’s ruling period, a lot of names were guessed at when choosing the Commander-in-Chief so we have to wait and see who will be the new Commander-in-Chief.

However, observers said whoever the new Commander-in-Chief is, they want someone who will support in building a Federal Union, the peace process and in shaping democracy more boldly.

Therefore, it is a quiz which everyone has to watch who will become the new president and who will become the new Commander-in-Chief when the new government forms in 2021.