Myanmar's military moves amid Suu Kyi no-show
.(Reuters)
- A political stalemate preventing the long-awaited parliamentary debut
of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi coincides with an
apparent attempt by the powerful military to bolster its influence in
the legislature.
Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy
(NLD) colleagues swept 43 of 45 seats contested in April 1 by-elections
but now she and other NLD MPs elect are refusing to swear a
parliamentary oath to "safeguard" a 2008 constitution, which they say is
undemocratic.
The
stalemate has unsettled party faithful who are eager for the NLD to
help tackle their country's myriad problems, while perplexing analysts
who say the NLD's gambit risks being seen as pedantic, ill-timed, and
needlessly confrontational.
"It's a
very high-risk strategy for political gains that are not quite clear,"
says Richard Horsey, a former United Nations official in Myanmar. "It's
wasting precious time that could be spent on actual policymaking."
The
NLD is holding its ground in the evident hope that a deal can be
brokered with the help of reformist President Thein Sein and the
speakers of the upper and lower houses.
"Different
views are the essence of democracy," says Myat Nyana Soe, a member of
parliament who recently switched parties to join the NLD. "We hope the
majority will respect the view of the minority."
The
NLD's no-show coincides with an effort by the military to strengthen
its position in parliament, where its officers are guaranteed a quarter
of seats under the constitution.
Fifty-nine
majors were replaced with senior officers ranked from lieutenant
colonel to brigadier general, Myanmar's election commission announced on
April 22.
The move anticipates the eventual arrival of the NLD's small but vocal contingent.
"It's
quite clear that the replacement of these young majors with higher
ranking officials is to make military representation stronger and make
their voice heard louder inside the parliament," said a lower house
member, who declined to be identified.
The oath stalemate will mystify many in
Myanmar, an impoverished country of 60 million people where fretting
about constitutional semantics comes a very distant second to daily
concerns about lack of jobs, healthcare and educational opportunities.
But
Suu Kyi's passion for changing the constitution, which also allows the
president to hand power to the armed forces chief in an ill-defined
emergency, should come as no surprise.
The
drafting of the constitution was tightly controlled by the military,
which ruled harshly for nearly 50 years following a 1962 coup, and
guarantees it a leading role in politics.
Now,
after the military officially stepped back in favour of a reformist,
quasi-civilian government, a new confrontation could be looming.
While
Suu Kyi has recently hinted at the need for the military to get out of
politics, the armed forces commander has spoken of the need for the
military to protect the constitution that gives it a "leadership role".
One
of Suu Kyi's main promises during her election campaign was to amend
the constitution, while NLD campaign manager Nyan Win told Reuters in
March that charter change would be Suu Kyi's "very first priority" upon
entering parliament.
"SHOULD BE IN PARLIAMENT"
The
NLD convincingly won an election in 1990, but the military junta
annulled the result and mercilessly persecuted Suu Kyi and her
supporters. Since then, Suu Kyi's party has consistently refused to
participate in junta-backed initiatives.
In
1995, NLD members walked out of a constitution-drafting assembly
convened by the junta. They also boycotted 2010 elections that were
widely criticised as rigged in favour of the military-backed Union
Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which now dominates parliament.
In 1998, between spells under house arrest,
she sat in a car for six days on a country road after police stopped her
visiting party members. Diplomats said she used that stand-off to
undermine the ruling junta's claim that she was free to move about the
country.
What she hopes to prove
from the standoff over the oath eludes even potential allies. "The oath
is nothing," says Zung Hlei Thang, an MP with the ethnic Chin
Progressive Party. "It doesn't create any hindrance for amending the
constitution."
"The NLD should be
in parliament, where they can raise any issue - corruption, rule of law
and, of course, amending the constitution," said Kyaw Zwa Moe, managing
editor of Irrawaddy Publishing Group, a news organisation founded by
Myanmar exiles in Thailand.
He
suspected the decision was a last-minute one taken in the euphoric wake
of the by-elections, in which the NLD trounced its arch-rival, the USDP.
MP
Myat Nyana Soe said the decision was made by the party's Central
Executive Committee. Four of its seven members are MPs elect, including
Suu Kyi.
The stalemate could also
be testing voters' faith in Suu Kyi, who is widely revered in Myanmar.
"People are quite worried that their vote will be useless," says Nyo Ohn
Myint, an exiled NLD leader.
Aye Maung, of the Rakhine Nationalities
Development Party, played down the standoff. He noted that a foreign
investment law was the only major legislation to be decided before
parliament's current session expires at the end of April, and that all
sides had "plenty of time" to work out a compromise.
But
USDP secretary general Htay Oo told Reuters on Monday his party would
not introduce any proposal to change the oath. "The wording would have
no impact on the development of the country," he said.
While
the NLD's seats lie empty, the military's decision to fill its quota
with higher-ranking delegates was an "obvious recognition" of
parliament's growing importance, said Horsey.
The
soldier-delegates were now "thinking for themselves and are allowed to
vote independently," he said. "They're studying the issues. In that
case, is it really captains and majors you want?"
NLD member Nyo Ohn Myint saw the hand of retired dictator Senior General Than Shwe in the newly appointed military delegates.
"They
are all hardliners," he said. "General Than Shwe has woken up and might
take the opportunity to derail the democratic process."
(Additional reporting by Stuart Grudgings and Thu Rein Hlaing in Naypyitaw; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Posted by BCJP
on Wednesday, April 25, 2012. Filed under
