Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak today congratulated the people of Myanmar for the successful completion of a landmark democratic process recently.

“I look forward to working closely with Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw to further strengthen our bilateral relations and together with our Asean colleagues, work towards achieving our collective goals as a community for the benefit of our peoples,” he said in his latest Facebook posting today.

According to a BBC news report, Myanmar’s parliament has elected U Htin Kyaw as the country’s new president, the first civilian leader after more than 50 years of military rule.

U Htin Kyaw is a close ally of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party swept to victory in historic elections in November last year.

He won with 360 of the 652 votes cast in the two houses of parliament (House of Nationalities and House of Representatives) to be elected as the new president of Myanmar.

- Bernama