Suu Kyi makes history with parliament debut
Source: Agencies |
May 3, 2012, Thursday
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AUNG San Suu Kyi completed her historic journey from political prisoner to parliamentarian yesterday, assuming public office for the first time to work alongside Myanmar's new reform-minded government after a 25-year struggle against military rule.
The session yesterday cements a detente between Suu Kyi's party and the reformist government of President Thein Sein, which came to power last year after the nation's long-ruling military junta stepped down.
The 66-year-old opposition leader's entry into the legislative branch of the army-backed government comes after Suu Kyi lost her first major political battle since this Southeast Asian nation's historic April 1 by-election - a bid to change the lawmakers' oath.
Suu Kyi's party refused to take its seats in the assembly last week because they opposed wording in the oath that obliges legislators to "safeguard" the constitution. The party, which has vowed to amend the document because it enshrines military power, wanted the phrasing changed to "respect."
But their failure to push through even that small change underscores the immense challenges ahead in the opposition's strategy of pushing for democratic change from within the government still dominated by the military.
Yesterday, Suu Kyi and several dozen of her party brethren chose to compromise for now - jointly reciting the oath in the capital, Naypyitaw, as the ruling party and the army looked on. Suu Kyi said she would not give up the struggle she has waged since 1988.
"We have to now work within the parliament as well as outside the parliament as we have been doing" all along, she said. Asked if it would be awkward sitting alongside the army, Suu Kyi said she has "tremendous goodwill toward" the soldiers.
"We would like our parliament to be in line with genuine democratic values. It's not because we want to remove anybody," she said. "We just want to make the kind of improvements that will make our national assembly a truly democratic one."
Thein Sein's government has been widely praised for instituting sweeping reforms over the last several months, including releasing hundreds of political prisoners, signing cease-fires with rebels, easing press censorship and holding the April 1 by-election that allowed Suu Kyi's party to enter parliament.
But more than half a million refugees remain abroad, hundreds of political prisoners are still behind bars and fierce fighting continues with ethnic Kachin insurgents in the north.
Over the next three years, the NLD will have to decide how to navigate the run-up to the next national elections in 2015, which they are widely expected to win.
The session yesterday cements a detente between Suu Kyi's party and the reformist government of President Thein Sein, which came to power last year after the nation's long-ruling military junta stepped down.
The 66-year-old opposition leader's entry into the legislative branch of the army-backed government comes after Suu Kyi lost her first major political battle since this Southeast Asian nation's historic April 1 by-election - a bid to change the lawmakers' oath.
Suu Kyi's party refused to take its seats in the assembly last week because they opposed wording in the oath that obliges legislators to "safeguard" the constitution. The party, which has vowed to amend the document because it enshrines military power, wanted the phrasing changed to "respect."
But their failure to push through even that small change underscores the immense challenges ahead in the opposition's strategy of pushing for democratic change from within the government still dominated by the military.
Yesterday, Suu Kyi and several dozen of her party brethren chose to compromise for now - jointly reciting the oath in the capital, Naypyitaw, as the ruling party and the army looked on. Suu Kyi said she would not give up the struggle she has waged since 1988.
"We have to now work within the parliament as well as outside the parliament as we have been doing" all along, she said. Asked if it would be awkward sitting alongside the army, Suu Kyi said she has "tremendous goodwill toward" the soldiers.
"We would like our parliament to be in line with genuine democratic values. It's not because we want to remove anybody," she said. "We just want to make the kind of improvements that will make our national assembly a truly democratic one."
Thein Sein's government has been widely praised for instituting sweeping reforms over the last several months, including releasing hundreds of political prisoners, signing cease-fires with rebels, easing press censorship and holding the April 1 by-election that allowed Suu Kyi's party to enter parliament.
But more than half a million refugees remain abroad, hundreds of political prisoners are still behind bars and fierce fighting continues with ethnic Kachin insurgents in the north.
Over the next three years, the NLD will have to decide how to navigate the run-up to the next national elections in 2015, which they are widely expected to win.
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