The motion centered around urging the government to ease administrative red tape. MP U Aung Kyaw Thu from Thaton Constituency – 2 submitted the proposal to the Mon State Hluttaw on December 6, but Chief Minister U Aye Zan urged politicians to vote it down, to avoid giving the public the perception that the government was not doing its best. He also blamed some delays on budget shortfalls.

“The government is always working hard,” the chief minister said. “I want to urge the [State Hluttaw] to postpone this proposal because the public may believe there is a conflict between the government and the Hluttaw.”

MP U Aung Kyaw Thu, who also chairs the Hluttaw’s Complaints Committee, said while there are some ambitious achievers within the new government, there are many with an old, bureaucratic mentality that is slowing down badly needed change.

“The situation of the new government is like a change to the engine of a train. But the attached carriages are still old and battered,” said U Aung Kyaw Thu. “When the government is trying to implement its policies, it needs to set down stricter rules and regulations to prevent departments from going against the government’s image or policy.”

He added that his committee has received thousands of complaints over the National League for Democracy’s term in office. In several cases, he said, the municipal, or lower-level staff from the Department of Farmland Management and Land Records, and the township-level staff under the Department of Immigration and Manpower the Department of Education and the Department of Health have failed to provide timely assistance.

Fellow MP Daw Khine Khine Lei supported the proposal. She said the immigration offices only follow the rules when the issue is raised at the Hluttaw and criticized them for taking bribes from the public.