Myanmar's Parliamentary Speaker Shwe Mann on Monday said that the country's constitution had been designed by the previous military junta to foster a smooth transfer of power to a civilian government, dismissing suggestions the generals in fact wanted to maintain their grip on power through the charter.
Speaking at a meeting of local parliamentarians and ethnic leaders in the Tanintharyi region capital Dawei, Shwe Mann said that junta leader Senior General Than Shwe's regime had wanted to transfer power way back in 2008 when the charter was approved.
The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the military junta was officially called, "transferred the nation's power to a new government according to the 2008 constitution," said Shwe Mann, who was previously the third-highest-ranking member of Myanmar's military junta, which had ruled the country for nearly five decades until 2011.
The transfer of power was unprecedented, said Shwe Mann, who took over in July as overall leader of the two chambers of the country's legislature, where a panel is currently studying the possibility of making various amendments to the constitution in a follow-up to reforms instilled by President Thein Sein's administration.
"So the 2008 constitution was written to be able to transfer the nation's power to a new government," he said, pointing out that the charter had enabled President Thein Sein to take the reins from the military regime after historic November 2010 elections and pursue democratic reforms.
"If this constitution wasn't written, the SPDC couldn't have transferred power to the current government," said Shwe Mann, who is also head of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
"It is very difficult for people who have power to transfer it to others."
Some political analysts had said that the charter was drawn up by the military junta to maintain its grip on power by having provisions that protected the junta leaders from being accountable for their actions, stifling democracy and curbing the rights of minority ethnic groups.
Seeking amendment
Amending the constitution has been a major objective for Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's popular National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, which joined parliament last year after boycotting earlier elections.
The NLD is banking on having constitutional amendments endorsed before the 2015 general elections, in which Aung San Suu Kyi hopes her party will wrest power so that she can take over the presidency from Thein Sein, also a former military general.
But the opposition leader is barred from assuming the presidency under the current constitution, which says that any Myanmar national whose relatives are foreign citizens or hold foreign citizenship is not qualified to serve as president or vice-president.
Aung San Suu Kyi's late husband was British and her two sons hold British citizenship.
The NLD also wants the constitution amended to abolish the military's quota of 25 percent of parliamentary seats.
A constitutional amendment requires at least 75 percent approval in parliament before it is put to a national referendum, but together, the military and the USDP control more than 80 percent of legislative seats.
Ethnic demands
Meanwhile, many of Myanmar's ethnic-based parties are pushing for constitutional amendments creating a federalist system that would allow the states greater autonomy.
Last week, while traveling in eastern Myanmar's Shan state, Shwe Mann discussed a federal system of governing the country as well as issues such as ethnic equality and the right to self-determination which ethnic minority groups have been demanding for years.
Reported by Kyaw Lwin Oo and Zin Mar Win for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/myanmars-speaker-says-junta-constitution-written-to-transfer-power/
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