Bitar expected to be appointed the Vice President of the United Arab Republic (UAR) but instead he was appointed the Minister of State for Arab Affairs, and later the Minister of Culture and National Guidance. At the beginning, Bitar was the only Syrian in the central cabinet. He and other Syrians in the UAR leadership became dismayed over the dominant role Nasser gave the Egyptians in administrating the UAR. Nasser had opposed the formation of a joint leadership council of Egyptians and Syrians. On 23–24 December 1959 Bitartogether with Hawrani (the UAR Vice President and central Minister of Justice), Mustafa Hamdun (Syrian regional Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform) and Abd al-Ghani Qannut (the Syrian regional social affairs and labour minister), as well as all former members of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Ba'ath Party who worked within the UAR bureaucracyresigned their posts. The resignation were made public, and were accepted later in December. A fifth Syrian regional minister, Khalil al-Khallas, the Minister of Economy and a member of the Executive Council of Syria (the Syrian regional government), resigned in January 1960. Syrians began to resign en masse, and by August 1960 only three Syrians remained in the official decision-making bodies of the UAR. The lack of Syrian participation was "corrected" in September when five new Syrian cabinet members were appointed, but the ratio of two Egyptians for each Syrian central cabinet member was kept until 1961. From December 1959, Bitar and the Ba'ath Party began to oppose the UAR and its political structure. Bitar supported the coup of 28 September 1961, which dissolved the UAR as a de facto union between Egypt and Syria. On 2 October 1961, Bitar, Hawrani and 14 other politiciansmostly conservativessigned a manifesto. Two months later, Bitar signed a similar document, the National Charter for the Separatist Regime. His signing both of these documents was used against him in the 1963 Unity Talks between Egypt, Iraq and Syria as proof of him lacking pro-Arab nationalist credentials. The manifesto, which was handwritten by Bitar, stated that Nasser had distorted "the idea of Arab nationalism" and accused him of strangling the "political and democratic life" in Syria. Bitar, then under popular criticism, withdrew his signature from the 2 October manifesto, but it was too late to prevent damage. Several members called upon Aflaq to expel Bitar from the party, citing his wild opportunism. After the dissolution