Burma's democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi became a parliamentarian for the first time today in a further sign of the former dictatorship's political opening.
Ms Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest, took an oath required for lawmakers today in the capital of Naypyidaw after dropping a demand that officials change its wording.
Her National League for Democracy, which won 43 of 45 seats up for grabs in April 1st byelections, had objected to language supporting the military-drafted constitution.
"This is a historic moment," said Thaung Tun, a retired Burma diplomat who is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. Now you have a formal opposition in Myanmar [Burma]. It's a good beginning for the democratic process."
Even some of Ms Suu Kyi's fierce rivals in the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) see her presence as a boon for a parliament with limited powers.
"With Suu Kyi on board, parties will be more diverse, with different perspective and opinions," said Kyaw Soe Lay, a lower house USDP lawmaker. "This works in the interest of those in the parliament."
Following the NLD's wins in byelections, where it took control of less than 10 per cent of the 664-member body, members wanted the oath for parliamentarians changed to say they would "respect" rather than "safeguard" the constitution.
Ms Suu Kyi dropped the demand two days ago "because of the people's desire," spokesman Nyan Win said on Monday.
The country's transition to democracy requires "flexibility in the political process," Ms Suu Kyi told reporters yesterday in Rangoon in an appearance with United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who visited Burma earlier this week, told reporters in Bangkok yesterday that she was "delighted" Ms Suu Kyi's party would enter parliament.
The United States saw the opposition's move as a "hopeful sign," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. "We would look for them to work together with the government and to keep the momentum on democratic process," he told reporters in Washington yesterday.
Since taking office in March 2011, President Thein Sein has freed political prisoners, sought peace deals with ethnic armies, dismantled a fixed exchange rate that distorted government revenue and halted the construction of a Chinese-backed hydropower project in response to growing criticism China was exploiting Burmese resources.
He also met Ms Suu Kyi and convinced her party to rejoin the political process after boycotting 2010 elections.
In 1990, the military rejected an election victory by Ms Suu Kyi's party in which it won about 80 per cent of seats for a committee to draft a new constitution.
Ms Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner known in Burma as 'The Lady', was detained during both that vote and the 2010 elections.
Her party is pushing to change the current constitution, which guarantees the military a quarter of parliamentary seats.
Agencies