"This is all completely meaningless without the NLD," said Walter Lohman, a senior research fellow for Southeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. (Source: ReliefWeb.int)
Myanmar to resume charter talks
YANGON, July 16, 2007 (AFP) - Myanmar's military rulers are set to open on Wednesday what they say will be the last round of talks on a new constitution, which analysts criticise as a tool to tighten the junta's grip on power.
The military's hand-picked delegates at the National Convention have been meeting on and off since 1993 to draft the guidelines of a new charter, purportedly the first step on the generals' "road map" to democracy.
But the junta has laid out no timeline for eventual elections, and analysts say the charter itself will serve only to formalise the military's role in government.
The talks, which were last held in December, have been derided by the European Union, the United States, and the United Nations for failing to include detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has boycotted the convention to protest against her house arrest, which the military has used to silence her for most of the last 17 years.
"This is all completely meaningless without the NLD," said Walter Lohman, a senior research fellow for Southeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.
An Asian diplomat in Yangon said the convention had "no credibility" for the international community, which has repeatedly demanded the junta free the 62-year-old Nobel peace laureate.
"It is a consensus in the international community that the National Convention lacks legitimacy because of the absence of Aung San Suu Kyi," said the diplomat, who declined to be named.
The convention draws more than 1,000 hand-picked delegates at a secluded military compound outside Yangon, where they stay with resort-like comforts including a cinema and golf course.
During the final session, expected to last about a month, delegates are rarely allowed to leave the compound and have no contact with the outside world.
"This whole process is not democratic since it has been orchestrated by the military," said Aung Naing Oo, a Myanmar analyst based in neighbouring Thailand.
Writing a constitution is the first stage of the junta's movement to democracy that, in theory, would eventually lead to free elections in Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.
But Aung Naing Oo said the constitution was just another tool for the junta to strengthen its hold on power.
"The ruling generals want to make sure that no one can challenge the military under the new constitution," he said.
The junta says it will hold a referendum on the new charter following the convention, and then call for free elections. But the regime has never laid out a timetable for such steps.
The Asian diplomat said Myanmar was unlikely to speed up efforts on the charter referendum or elections.
"The convention has been held for more than 10 years, and given the regime's record, I really doubt Myanmar will hold elections anytime soon," he said.
Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the military never allowed it to govern.
Debbie Stothard from the Alternative ASEAN Network on Myanmar, a regional pro-democracy group, also dismissed the convention, saying: "This is part of the junta's plans to stay in power."
shi/gs/bgs AFP 160148 GMT 07 07
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
http://www.ncgub.net/article.php/20070717102857183