Saturday, February 23, 2019

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Amendments Should Not Harm Essence of Constitution, Military Warns

Posted: 23 Feb 2019 06:09 AM PST

YANGON—Myanmar's military has denounced recent attempts made by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) to amend the country's constitution, saying it is "breaching constitutional rules" and warning that the military wouldn't tolerate any amendments that harm the essence of the Constitution.

Speaking at a press conference held in Yangon on Saturday afternoon, senior leaders of the military, or Tatmadaw, reiterated the opposition of its Parliament appointees against the formation of a joint committee tasked with amending the military-drafted Constitution.

"We hereby would like to repeat again that we are not objecting to constitutional reforms, but we object to their action (of forming a committee) which is against constitutional rules and Parliament by-laws," said Maj-Gen Tun Tun Nyi.

He said the ratio of members of the committee is "not fair" and that any resulting report presented by the 45-member committee would not be "complete." The military was allocated eight seats on the committee.

"The Constitution belongs to all nationals and it took long time to draft it… The amendments also need to take time and must be carried out broadly," he said.

Gen. Than Soe, a military representative in Parliament, said the committee's attempts at drafting an amendment "breaches the Constitution."

"It should be enough that the committee's duty is to submit the report on their findings for the amendments of the Constitution. I also presented this objection when we discussed the formation of the committee at the Parliament. Allowing [the committee] to draft the amending bill of the Constitution breaches the Constitution," he said.

Maj-Gen Tun Tun Nyi said the NLD has previously breached the Constitution by creating the new post of state councilor, now filled by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who is barred from becoming president under the Constitution.

"We will need to wait and see what the results and consequences [of this second breaching of constitutional rules] will be, he said.

The senior military leaders said that as the joint committee has been formed, the military representatives will agree to take part in the committee. However, they warned that they wouldn't accept any amendments that harm the essence of the Constitution or any of the 48 basic principles of the Union stated in the charter's Chapter 1.

The military appointees, who hold 25 percent of seats in Parliament as stipulated in the Constitution, cited Chapter 12 of the charter in their rejection of the NLD's proposal to form the committee from the outset. They said that at least 20 percent of lawmakers must agree to submitting a bill before discussing it in Parliament. The committee was formed after a majority of votes—from the NLD and other ethnic party members in Parliament—agreed to its formation. The NLD rejected the accusation, saying it is not yet proposing amendments, but merely the creating of an all-inclusive committee to review it for potential reforms.

The post Amendments Should Not Harm Essence of Constitution, Military Warns appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

This Week in Parliament

Posted: 22 Feb 2019 08:14 PM PST

Lawmaker U Thaung Aye of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) criticized the Mandalay Region government's filming of his meeting with residents in his constituency of Pyawbwe Township. He said the meeting was to explain the functions of Parliament to local people. But the regional government reportedly sent instructions to the Pyawbwe Township General Administration Department to film the meeting and submit it to the government along with a report. The lawmaker complained that filming was in violation of parliamentary laws.

Tuesday (Feb. 19)

Parliament voted to form a 45-member committee to draft amendments to the Constitution with representatives from 14 parties: 18 from the ruling National League for Democracy; eight from the military; two from the USDP; two from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy; two from the Arakan National Party; one each from the other political parties; one independent; and the Parliament speaker and deputy speaker.

Brig. Gen. Maung Maung, who leads military-appointed lawmakers in Parliament, warned of national instability if any one political party amends the Constitution with only its goals in mind.

Wednesday (Feb. 20)

The Lower House approved a proposal by lawmaker Daw Zinmar Aung urging the government to draft a plan to promote digital literacy in Myanmar, which has been suffering from the negative impacts of false content on social media.

Thursday (Feb. 21)

In the Upper House, lawmaker U Kyaw Toke, of Mandalay Region, claimed that farmers do not have access to agricultural loans under the rural development plan of the Co-operatives Department. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, the department received $100 million from the Export-Import Bank of China five years ago in order to lend money to farmers. Co-operatives Department Director U Myo Aung insisted that the loans are being provided to farmers only.

USDP lawmaker U Nyan Tun, who served as a vice president under former President U Thein Sein, submitted a proposal to Parliament urging the government to respond effectively to international organizations that attempt to divide the country. He said the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, European Union and UNHCR adopted a resolution at the U.N. General Assembly on the human rights situation in Myanmar, and accused them of jeopardizing the country’s democratic transition and setting a trap that risked splitting Myanmar apart. Parliament agreed to debate his proposal.

Friday (Feb. 22)

The Lower House voted down a proposal by lawmaker U Sein Win urging the government to keep reserves of rice and crop seeds in preparation for climate change-inflicted disasters.

The post This Week in Parliament appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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