Myanmar's president-elect on Tuesday proposed an 18-member Cabinet that will include party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the former dissident who for decades had campaigned for a democratically elected government to replace the country's military junta.


President-elect Htin Kyaw submitted the names to the parliament for a formal review and approval by legislators on Wednesday, after which the Cabinet positions of the ministers will be decided.Notable, and top on the list, is Suu Kyi, who was not able to become president because of a constitutional block, even though she led her party to a landslide win in general elections last November.


It was widely rumoured that Suu Kyi will become the foreign minister, but that's far from certain because if she were to take that post she would have to give up her parliament seat and end party activities."I doubt that Aung San Suu Kyi would take the position of the foreign minister,' said Toe Kyaw Hlaign, a political analyst.


"Also, working as a foreign minister requires a lot of time travelling around the world. She will have to do a lot of international relations and overseas trips, and she won't have the time to exercise control over the government,' he told The Associated Press.


Suu Kyi has said in the past that she will be "above the president' and indirectly govern the country from behind the scenes.


Still, Suu Kyi's entry into the government is a remarkable turn of fortunes not only for the Nobel Peace laureate but also for the country, which had been under an iron-fisted military rule since 1962.


For decades, the junta kept Myanmar in isolation and economic stagnation while refusing to listen to international counsel or homegrown demands for democracy.


Suu Kyi came to prominence in 1988 when popular protests were building up. The junta simply crushed the protests that had turned into anti-government riots, killing thousands of people and placing Suu Kyi under house arrest in 1989.