The entire raison d'être for 20 years of military rule — at least insofar as the official line went — was to ensure Myanmar was on a sustainable path to peace and reconciliation before the handover to a civilian government, thus avoiding the conflicts that beleaguered and ultimately brought down the U Nu administration in 1962. So why is it that after taking nearly two decades to draft, Myanmar’s Constitution reads like an instruction manual for provoking discord?
The Constitution, still in its infancy, is hardly a robust document. Military leaders have taken the broadest possible interpretation of Article 59(f) to disqualify Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from the presidency, but raised no objection when departing President U Thein Sein was returned to the “honorary” chairmanship of the Union Solidarity and Development Party last August and campaigned in the November election, despite Article 64 barring incumbent heads of state from taking part in political activities. Ethnic seat allocations in state and regional assemblies (Article 161) are based on census data from more than 30 years ago and are without doubt disenfranchising ethnic communities in various parts of the country. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
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