The powerful speaker of Myanmar’s lower house of parliament on Friday chided a lawmaker from the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party for targeting the long-ruling army’s involvement in key economic sectors during debate over a draft bill on national plans for the upcoming fiscal year.
Speaker Shwe Man interrupted NLD lawmaker Aung Moe Nyo as he discussed the military’s Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, Ltd. (UMEHL), an army-owned conglomerate that includes garment factories, copper mines in Mount Letpadaung in northern Myanmar’s Sagaing region, Myawaddy Bank, and the shipping firm Myanma Five Star Line, and suggested it only benefited military officers, not rank-and-file soldiers.
“In my constituency, soldiers are extremely poor because they don’t have enough clothing and food,” he said. “It shouldn’t be that way. If high-ranking officers are excessively rich while ordinary soldiers are deprived, ...”
But Shwe Mann, a member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), interrupted him and said: “Don’t use words that damage the dignity of the organization [army]. This should be the last warning.”
Aung Moe Nyo, however, continued his comments about the government army and its grip on the economy, strengthened over decades of unchallenged military rule. (Courtesy of RFA)
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