Myanmar's draft constitution bars Suu Kyi, cements military role in parliament

AP
Posted: 2008-03-31

YANGON, Myanmar (AP)

- Myanmar's draft constitution, which goes before voters in a May referendum, perpetuates military domination of politics and protects junta members from prosecution for past actions.

The text of the proposed constitution has not yet been made public. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the 457-article, 194-page document Monday.

It draws on guidelines that a national convention completed last year after 14 years of on-and-off meetings.

It contains several new points not in the guidelines, however, in an apparent effort to stave off challenges to the military's authority.

The ruling military junta announced the referendum in February and said it would be followed by a long-awaited general election in 2010. The junta calls the process its "roadmap to democracy."

Critics have denounced the process as a sham designed to perpetuate military rule. The drafting process did not include Aung San Suu Kyi or members of her opposition National League for Democracy.

One of the draft's most contentious clauses follows the guidelines in barring anyone who enjoyed the rights and privileges of a foreign citizen from holding public office. This would keep Suu Kyi out of government because her late husband, Michael Aris, was a Briton and their two sons are British.

The draft charter allots 25 percent of seats in both houses of parliament to the military. It empowers the president to transfer legislative, executive and judicial powers to the military's commander in chief for a year if a state of emergency arises.

It also stipulates that no amendments to the charter can be made without the consent of more than 75 percent of lawmakers - making proposed changes unlikely unless supported by military representatives in parliament.

A clause in the charter draft, but not covered in the guidelines, protects members of the junta in power since 1988 from legal prosecution for any acts carried out as part of their official duties.

The junta has been accused of gross human rights violations in suppressing Myanmar's pro-democracy movement and in its counterinsurgency operations against restive ethnic minorities.

Neighboring Thailand last year adopted a similar clause in its own military-backed constitution, effectively protecting from prosecution leaders of the military and their allies who carried out a September 2006 coup d'etat and administered the country for more than a year of interim rule.

In a significant change from the guidelines, Myanmar's draft charter delays when the new constitution would take effect.

Instead of becoming law after voters accept it in the May referendum, it would do so only after parliament's first session - which could not happen until at least 2010. Parliament will convene within 90 days of the election.

Other proposed changes include a new name and national flag. The draft proposes to rename the country, which was called Burma until 1989, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. It is now called the Union of Myanmar.

The new constitution is supposed to replace the one scrapped when the current junta took power in 1988.

After the last election was held in 1990 the military refused to hand power to the winner, Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party. Suu Kyi has been in prison or under house arrest for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

Myanmar has been in a political deadlock since 1990 with hundreds of Suu Kyi's supporters thrown in jail.

The junta has faced international pressure to make democratic reforms, especially since it crushed peaceful protests in September. The U.N. estimates at least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained in the crackdown.