One Very Patient Lady

[bust]

Burma rules out lifting ban on Aung San Suu Kyi presidency before election

Veteran democracy campaigner cannot run for top post because of ban on candidates with a foreign spouse or children

 

 

Burma’s parliamentary speaker has ruled out pre-election changes to the junta-drafted constitution, which bars the opposition leaderAung San Suu Kyi from becoming president.

The comments by Shwe Mann came days after Barack Obama backed Aung San Suu Kyi’s attempts to change the charter during a visit to the country. Elections are due in November 2015.

The speaker said a referendum would be held next May on constitutional changes that are being thrashed out amid heated debate in the legislature.

“We cannot perform constitutional amendments straight after the referendum,†Shwe Mann told reporters in the capital, Naypyidaw, adding that it was “impossible to change [the charter] at this time†because of the scope of the likely changes.

On Monday the military voiced strong opposition to significant changes to the constitution, including clause 59f, which is thought to have been written specifically to thwart Aung San Suu Kyi.

Legislators will choose a new president after the general election next November. But the veteran democracy campaigner cannot stand for the top post because the constitution bans those with a foreign spouse or children. Her late husband and two sons are British.

Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party are expected to make big gains at the polls – the first general election they have fought since they swept the polls in 1990. The then junta ignored the result.

But the party has declined to put forward an alternative candidate if Aung San Suu Kyi, 69, cannot stand for the presidency.

 

Min Thu, an NLD MP, told AFP the party still hoped the leader would be able to become president after the election. “If people want it enough, everything will come true. Nothing can be done without the people’s desire,†he said.

The Nobel laureate, who has publicly declared her desire to be president, last week told Obama the constitution was “unfair, unjust and undemocratic†and warned that Burma’s much vaunted reforms were stalling.

The US president took up the issue, telling reporters at Aung San Suu Kyi’s lakeside home that “the amendment process needs to reflect inclusion rather than exclusionâ€.

“I don’t understand the provision that would bar somebody from running for president because of who [their] children are,†he said.

Unelected soldiers make up a quarter of Burma’s legislature, a hangover from military rule which ensures that the army continues to hold sway. Under section 436, any significant changes to the constitution require a majority vote of more than 75%, giving the last word to soldiers.

During the parliamentary debate on Monday, Colonel Htay Naing denied that the constitution had been written to bar Aung San Suu Kyi, adding that it was not the time to change section 436.

Observers say the military, which kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for 15 years under the junta, has never wanted her to have a chance at the presidency.

One Burma expert, who asked not to be named, said the army had long made clear it was not supportive of constitutional reform, and this position would remain “irrespective of Obama’s feelings on the matterâ€.

“But the fact that they have also made their own suggestions for changes means they don’t see the constitution as a sacred text that cannot be altered. That’s significant,†he said.

This year the NLD gained the signatures of about five million people on a petition to end the army’s veto on amending the charter.

Burma’s reform drive has lost much of its sheen in recent months, as efforts to end its multiple ethnic wars foundered and activists raised concerns that the country is rolling back on rights issues.

Shwe Mann, a former general who has indicated his own desire to stand for the presidency as head of the ruling party, said he was open to changing 59f, adding that amendment of the clause was not just to help “my friend†Aung San Suu Kyi.

“I want all citizens to get their full rights … the president’s position is for the person able to work in the best interests of the people and the country,†he added.

 

http://www.theguardi...ung-san-suu-kyi

[passingthru69]

Why they did it in the U.S... Look who's our president

[YimSiam]

Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi needs to give up on the presidency issue and get down to making sure things improve in the country without her at the helm. Going for the presidency above all else is just being willing to sell out the real issues - like the fact that the whole military constitution is a joke. Any negotiation to achieve her own presidency will involve unacceptable compromise on issues that really matter - like actual self-determination for the Myanmar nation and its people, real democracy, and respect for the interests and wellbeing of the ethnic minorities. Put the 'foreign spouse and children' issue away for now, because focusing on that as an important just empowers the military and removes the focus on serious issues. The Lady is a great symbol, especially when she's locked in her house, but the important issue is creating a broader environment of change and new leadership committed to issues other than ASSK getting the presidency...

 

YimSiam

[bust]

I have been saying for years that the amount of media attention she receives kind of takes the attention away from the bigger issues facing Burma.

[baa99]

I have been saying for years that the amount of media attention she receives kind of takes the attention away from the bigger issues facing Burma.

 

Without her there would be zero attention on Burma!

[unit731]

Without her there would be zero attention on Burma!

 

Without her, most people would not know where Burma is, let alone Myanmar !

[YimSiam]

So use the attention and leverage on something that matters, not perpetuating a mythical dynasty, says I. Different individuals and systems have varied useful attributes - Mao and Maoism is a kick-ass way to gain power in a feudal peasant-based society, as shown in China and Nepal, but it's a crap system of governance. Being a virtuous maiden locked up in her family mansion is great to garner attention to a symbol, but she's not necessarily someone with capacity or background to wrestle Myanmar towards a future of peace and democracy -- get back to being a figurehead, and let others do the political leadership. I remember that in the last years of her captivity, some of her visitors were coming out saying that they thought she'd basically been so oddly removed for so long, she wasn't even psychologically ready to step into power or leadership, at worst, that they'd basically cracked her with all the detention and isolation. Not saying they're right necessarily - but expending any real negotiating capital on getting her into the top spot will mean squandering more fundamental opportunities, I think. By the time she's allowed to take the reins, she'll be so beholden to the military's interlocutors and the Bamar-ethnic supremacists that it may not be very valuable to have her lead in the end. At least the Dalai Lama, vaguely similar situation, has always been clear that while he's a symbol and a voice, any next phase would require alternate leadership.

[JaiRai]

Without her there would be zero attention on Burma!

 

Negatory sir. Been reading about Myanmar and the Rohingya since 2009/2010 - and that's all accelerated in the past year with the UN calls to aid the situation.

 

btw - She won't even say the word "Rohingya" in public as it's fraught with peril in that country (and I think she's an admirable woman). While I'm all for standing up to violent moslem/Islamic extremists - fuck them - that certainly doesn't include brutalizing a refugee population (or anyone) just because they're part of the moslem religion. Moslem does not equal terrorist. Violent mass murdering fuckwad rapist asshole for some dumbass twisted self serving belief equals terrorist.

 

Just my .02

[Flashermac]

She also won't use the name Myanmar, which the generals imposed on the country.

[bust]

Without her there would be zero attention on Burma!

Strongly disagree. Burma has been under the spotlight since the '88 student uprising. Suu Kyi was the co-founder of the NLD which shot her to international fame. She simply became the spokesperson for the political debate for democratic freedom.