Rohingya News Agency - (online.wsj): Two government ministers have been allowed to resign from Myanmar's cabinet, state media reported Wednesday, including the information minister who presided over an easing of press restrictions that has recently been rolled back.

A presidential order published in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper Wednesday said Information Minister Aung Kyi and Health Minister Dr. Pe Thet Khin, had been allowed to resign "of their own volition," phrasing that usually suggests dismissals.

State media gave no further explanation and the former ministers and spokesmen for the Myanmar government couldn't be reached for comment. Replacements haven't been named.

Both ministers kept low profiles in the government. Mr. Aung Kyi, even in his role as minister of information, was never a public face for the administration or the point-person for journalists. That role was instead fulfilled by Ye Htut, President Thein Sein's spokesman and effectively the face of Myanmar's reformist government.

A retired general like many in the government, Mr. Aung Kyi had previously served as the military liaison with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi when she was under house arrest during military rule until a transition to civilian government rule was launched in 2010.

Press restrictions were greatly relaxed under Mr. Aung Kyi's oversight of the Ministry of Information. But the government has been strongly criticized in recent months for recent crackdowns on journalists.

Earlier this month, reporters and the chief executive officer of Myanmar's Unity Journal were sentenced to a decade in prison for an article that claimed a military facility was producing chemical weapons, a ruling decried by human rights groups and diplomats as unjustly harsh. Other journalists have been prosecuted for defamation.

Dr. Pe Thet Khin also kept a low profile in cabinet, assuming his post in 2011 when Mr. Thein Sein came to power. His ministry oversees all aspects of health care in the country, including the decision to expel Medecins Sans Frontiers from Rakhine state this February. That decision was criticized by international observers who said it was sparking a health care crisis in the state where more than 140, 000 remain displaced in squalid camps—mostly the stateless Rohingya Muslims. Nongovernmental organizations are often the sole provider of crucial medical care there. As of last week, the group has been allowed to resume health care services in the troubled state.

The reshuffle follows the dismissal of Religious Affairs Minister Hsan Hsint, whom the government said was "terminated" June 20 under a section of the constitution which allows the president to fire a minister deemed inadequate.

Analysts described this as far stronger language than is typically used for replacing cabinet ministers. The minister is being tried for corruption and sedition. He denies the charges and says they are politically motivated.

A separate notice, also on June 20, said that Chief Minister of Rakhine state Hla Maung Tin has been "allowed to retire." He was replaced by Maj. Gen. Maung Maung Ohn, who previously served as deputy minister for border affairs.

Observers considered the June reshuffles as an attempt by Mr. Thein Sein's office to get a grip on the sectarian divisions between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims in Rakhine, where hundreds of people have been killed and more than 100,000 displaced over the past two years, mostly Muslims. The turmoil has stained the government's reputation and been criticized by other countries and the United Nations.