Myanmar’s former president Thein Sein has called for voters in 2020 elections to back candidates who will protect the military and the country from “neocolonialism” in the name of human rights, drawing harsh criticism from political observers and rights activists, RFA reported.

Thein Sein, who served as president from 2011 to 2015 under the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and is credited with paving the way for a civilian-led government, made the comments on Jan. 5 at the party’s headquarters in the capital Naypyidaw.

As president, Thein Sein implemented a series of reforms to push Myanmar towards democracy, including ending media censorship and freeing political prisoners from jail, though the changes lost steam late in his administration.