NAYPYITAW, Burma – An elected parliament convened in Burma yesterday for the first time in half a century but inspired scant enthusiasm among a sceptical public convinced it is just a smokescreen for continued military rule.
More than 600 members filled two new hluttaws, or legislative chambers, in the opening session. They are charged with choosing Burma’s first civilian president since a 1962 coup ushered in 49 unbroken years of military dictatorship.
The ruling junta has hailed the legislature as a new dawn of democracy but critics dismiss it as a charade that leaves the same authoritarian generals in control. They say the new government is just as likely to clamp down on dissent as the old one.
Lawmakers elected a chairmen and vice chairmen for each of the two chambers in the opening session, with three of the four positions going to retired soldiers, according to several parliamentarians, who asked to remain anonymous because speaking to the media was punishable by two years in prison.
The big surprise was junta number three Thura Shwe Mann, a career soldier honoured for bravery and tipped by many politicians and analysts as a possible presidential candidate, being made chairman, or speaker, of the lower house. “There was speculation among us that Thura Shwe Mann will become the president, but our party instructed us to elect him as the chairman of the lower house,” said a member of the main political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is a proxy for the military government.
The army has a reserved quota of a quarter of the seats in both chambers, as well as in regional parliaments.
That leaves parliament dominated by serving or retired soldiers loyal to junta supremo Than Shwe, who many analysts think might take the post of president.
Police patrolled roads and legislators travelled in luxury cars to the assemblies in Naypyitaw, the sprawling capital built from scratch just four years ago, where the country’s military rulers have isolated themselves some 320km from the biggest city and former capital, Yangon.
But there was barely a ripple of interest among ordinary Burmese, most of whom see the changes as purely cosmetic.
“We have no idea and no time to take the trouble to think about these useless things,” said a 38-year-old worker in Naypyitaw.
Journalists were barred from attending the session and mobile phones banned. – (Reuters)