Myanmar constitutional national convention resuming to push roadmap process

Myanmar's National Convention to work out detailed basic principles for drawing up a new state constitution is due to resume its session Tuesday morning to push ahead its roadmap process to democracy after a recess for nearly nine months since the end of January this year.

The session to be opened at the Nyaunghnapin Camp in Hmawby, Yangon division, which is about 40 kilometers northwest of Yangon, is to seek approval to lay down basic detailed principles on relations between Hluttaws (parliaments), fundamental rights and responsibilities of citizens and the role of the armed forces which had been discussed in the last session.

In that session of the convention which ran for nearly two months from Dec. 5, 2005 to Jan. 31, 2006, basic detailed principles concerning the powers and functions of the president, executive powers and judicial powers of the union government and region or state government, self-administered zones and self- administered divisions were worked out.

According to the authorities, attending the resuming session will be over 1,000 delegates coming from eight categories of delegate groups -- over 600 representing for national races (60 percent), over 100 each for state service personnel and turned-in former anti-government ethnic armed groups, about 90 for farmers, about 50 for intellectuals, about 40 for workers, about 20 for political parties and 10 for parliament representatives-elect (in the 1990 general election).

Meanwhile, at a press briefing last weekend, government spokesmen Brigadier-General Kyaw Hsan insisted that the constitutional national convention process will continue without impact by a recent decision of the United Nations Security Council to put Myanmar's affairs on its agenda, saying that the country will try its best to complete the national convention process as soon as possible as originally planned.

He reiterated Myanmar's full commitment to the successful holding of the convention as the first stage of the government's seven-point roadmap with the conviction to materialize a firm democracy system that is in conformity with the country's objective conditions stage by stage.

The national convention, as the first step of the country's seven-point political roadmap to democracy announced by the government in August 2003, formally resumed on May 17, 2004 after eight-year-long suspension since March 1996.

The remaining six steps of the roadmap are outlined as undergoing a national referendum on draft of the constitution, holding a new general election to produce parliament representatives and forming a new democratic government.

Myanmar's constitutional national convention traced back to 1993 when it first started after a general election was held in 1990 by the present military government which took power in 1988.

Since the convention began, it has approved 104 basic principles for drafting a new state constitution and detailed basic principles have also been laid down for seven chapters out of 15 -- "The State", "Structure of State", "Head of State", " Designation of Self-Administered Divisions or Zones", "Formation of Legislature", "Formation of Executive", "Formation of Judiciary ", "Sharing of legislative power".

In the early stage of the national convention, the main political parties -- National League for Democracy (NLD) participated in the convention but walked out in 1995. When the convention first resumed in 2004, the NLD kept boycotting the sessions until now.

At a press conference on last Sunday, the government insisted that the constitution be rather firm in drawing than fast in timing and according to the agenda to be discussed in the current resuming session presented by Chief Justice U Aung Toe.

More sessions will follow in the future to deal with elections, political parties, prescriptions for the state of emergency, amendments of constitution, state flag, state emblem, national anthem and capital as well as prescriptions in transitional period, local observers said.

Source: Xinhua