There was little enthusiasm about prospects for reform when the Union parliament convened for the first time in January 2011. The Burma Campaign UK derided the assembly as the preserve of “soldiers, ex-soldiers, pro-regime parties, corrupt businessmen and stooges” and noted that the junta-drafted 2008 Constitution reserved many of the usual powers of parliamentary democracy for the military leadership. After decades of authoritarian rule, many also doubted whether the military would be willing to cede real power to democratic institutions, other than what was necessary to create a façade of representative government.
Five years on, suspicions linger about the military but it is clear that the legislature has greatly exceeded the low expectations it laboured under. The committee system has thrived, the two hluttaws hosted reasoned debate, MPs consulted a broad range of civil society and other groups and, for the most part, comported themselves with dignity and in deference to the arcane traditions of parliamentary forums. Although the constitution is overwhelmingly weighted towards the president, and grants undemocratic reserve powers to the Tatmadaw commander-in-chief, the last five years have demonstrated that the parliament has the ability to function as a constitutional check on executive authority. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
February 11, 2016
Suu Kyi–the next Myanmar president
When Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory late last year in Myanmar’s first national vote since a nominally civilian government was allowed to work in 2011, ending nearly 50 years of military rule, the world expected the country’s democracy icon to finally take the helm of government. That’s because her party will control the next parliament and can choose the next president.
As things stand, however, Suu Kyi can’t become president. Article 59 (F) of the Myanmar constitution states that if one of your “legitimate children…owes allegiance to a foreign power” you are disqualified. That covers both Suu Kyi’s sons Kim and Alexander, who carry British passports. Her long-shot chance is to change this provision of the country’s basic law. But changing the constitution is impossible without the support of the unelected army representatives. (Courtesy of Business Mirror)
As things stand, however, Suu Kyi can’t become president. Article 59 (F) of the Myanmar constitution states that if one of your “legitimate children…owes allegiance to a foreign power” you are disqualified. That covers both Suu Kyi’s sons Kim and Alexander, who carry British passports. Her long-shot chance is to change this provision of the country’s basic law. But changing the constitution is impossible without the support of the unelected army representatives. (Courtesy of Business Mirror)
Myanmar: New Parliament, Old Constitution
Myanmar’s new parliament convened for the first time last week amid a flurry of underground power struggles and intense negotiations between the military and the National League for Democracy’s chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi.
But it is clear that despite the overwhelming 255-30 electoral victory by the NLD on Nov. 8, the constitutional frame designed in 2008 by the junta is as solid as ever despite the humiliation of the military-backed USDPby the voters, whereas the new NLD government still has to figure out how to fit in despite the party’s landslide victory. The rise to dominance of the political landscape, if indeed Suu Kyi can pull it off, will come by incremental steps in the long term, without pressing the military towards a reforming agenda too soon.
It is clear is that the NLD will not handle the country’s political future alone. The military has made sure that befriending them was unavoidable, constitutionally but also technically. Ruling efficiently and reforming the country require the help of the General Administration Department, the widely-spread centralized bureaucratic machinery under the control of the military. (Courtesy of Asia Sentinel)
But it is clear that despite the overwhelming 255-30 electoral victory by the NLD on Nov. 8, the constitutional frame designed in 2008 by the junta is as solid as ever despite the humiliation of the military-backed USDPby the voters, whereas the new NLD government still has to figure out how to fit in despite the party’s landslide victory. The rise to dominance of the political landscape, if indeed Suu Kyi can pull it off, will come by incremental steps in the long term, without pressing the military towards a reforming agenda too soon.
It is clear is that the NLD will not handle the country’s political future alone. The military has made sure that befriending them was unavoidable, constitutionally but also technically. Ruling efficiently and reforming the country require the help of the General Administration Department, the widely-spread centralized bureaucratic machinery under the control of the military. (Courtesy of Asia Sentinel)
13 banks apply for Myanmar’s second round of foreign bank licensing. All 5 new applicants from Taiwan
Thirteen foreign banks from Taiwan, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea and Africa have shown interest in starting operations in Myanmar.
The applications, submitted to the Central Bank of Myanmar, are part of the second round of bank licensing the country plans to issue, as it opens up its economy to increased foreign direct investment following decades of isolation.
Nine foreign banks were awarded license in the country last year, and they are from Australia, Malaysia, China, Singapore, Japan and Thailand. These included Singapore’s OCBC and UOB, ANZ Banking Group, Thailand’s Bangkok Bank, Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group. (Courtesy of dealstreetasia.com)
The applications, submitted to the Central Bank of Myanmar, are part of the second round of bank licensing the country plans to issue, as it opens up its economy to increased foreign direct investment following decades of isolation.
Nine foreign banks were awarded license in the country last year, and they are from Australia, Malaysia, China, Singapore, Japan and Thailand. These included Singapore’s OCBC and UOB, ANZ Banking Group, Thailand’s Bangkok Bank, Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group. (Courtesy of dealstreetasia.com)
Myanmar military plane crash kills 4
Four Myanmar military personnel were killed and one survived Wednesday when an air force utility aircraft crashed after taking off from the airport in the capital Naypyitaw, officials said.
An Information Ministry statement identified the aircraft, which crashed in a rice field about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the airport, as a Beech 1900, a 19-passenger twin-engine turboprop no longer in production. Photos of the crashed plane showed that most of its fuselage had burned up.
The dead included a major, two captains and a corporal, said Gen. Aung Ye Win of the office of the Myanmar army commander. The sole survivor was another corporal who has been hospitalized. (Courtesy of San Francisco Chronicle)
An Information Ministry statement identified the aircraft, which crashed in a rice field about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from the airport, as a Beech 1900, a 19-passenger twin-engine turboprop no longer in production. Photos of the crashed plane showed that most of its fuselage had burned up.
The dead included a major, two captains and a corporal, said Gen. Aung Ye Win of the office of the Myanmar army commander. The sole survivor was another corporal who has been hospitalized. (Courtesy of San Francisco Chronicle)
Myanmar: The Understanding
So far the military has not tried to halt the momentous and unexpected (to them) power shift. These changes accelerated in November 2015 when veteran reform advocate Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won 80 percent of the available seats in parliament in the first nationwide elections in 25 years (and the first to actually take power since the 1960s). The new government is expected to take action on two issues (ethnic unrest and Chinese encroachment) the military was reluctant to tackle, as was the current elected (but still military dominated) government.
The military was always in favor of getting the economy growing rapidly, something decades of military rule had prevented. But many military leaders had prospered during the dictatorship because they could be corrupt (to get rich) without fear of prosecution. The new government is under a lot of pressure to crack down hard on corruption in order to increase economic growth and reduce the widespread poverty. Such a crackdown would also cause tensions with China, which has, for over a decade, invested heavily in the tribal north via corrupt deals with the military. Unwinding all these unfair (especially to local tribes) deals will be painful for the Chinese as well as prominent Burmese military leaders and businessmen. (Courtesy of strategypage.com)
The military was always in favor of getting the economy growing rapidly, something decades of military rule had prevented. But many military leaders had prospered during the dictatorship because they could be corrupt (to get rich) without fear of prosecution. The new government is under a lot of pressure to crack down hard on corruption in order to increase economic growth and reduce the widespread poverty. Such a crackdown would also cause tensions with China, which has, for over a decade, invested heavily in the tribal north via corrupt deals with the military. Unwinding all these unfair (especially to local tribes) deals will be painful for the Chinese as well as prominent Burmese military leaders and businessmen. (Courtesy of strategypage.com)
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