Myanmar junta forms committee to draft new constitution The Associated Press / October 19, 2007
Myanmar's ruling junta claimed to have taken another step in its "road map" to democracy that is supposed to lead to free elections with the creation of a committee to draft the country's long-delayed constitution.
The announcement late Thursday came amid a barrage of international pressure on the junta to halt a crackdown on government opponents and hold talks with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari suggested Thursday the country's military rulers be offered incentives to move toward democratic reforms. The envoy was on a six-nation tour of Asia aimed at getting Myanmar's neighbors to take an active role in resolving the crisis.
Myanmar's repressive regime has repeatedly rebuffed the world's calls for democratic reforms, saying it will follow it's own so-called road map to democracy.
The road map is supposed to culminate in a general election at an unspecified future date. But so far only the first stage — drawing up guidelines for a new constitution — has been completed, and that took more than a decade. Critics say the plan has no clear timetable and is a ruse to allow the military to cling onto power.
State radio and television said Thursday that a 54-member Constitution Drafting Commission had been selected and would be chaired by Chief Justice Aung Toe, with Attorney General Aye Maung serving as vice chairman. Several other officials, retired doctors and professors were also named.
The announcement did not say when the committee would start drafting the constitution. Last month the junta brutally stamped out pro-democracy demonstrations, detaining thousands of protesters and leaving 10 dead, by its own account. Critics of the regime say the true death toll may be closer to 200.
The government insists it will make democratic reforms only according to its own seven-step plan. The road map's first stage — drawing up guidelines for the new constitution — began in 1993 and was completed only last month.
Thursday's announcement said the commission would implement the third stage of the process, implying that the group's formation was the vaguely defined second stage. The fourth stage is supposed to be submission of the draft constitution to a national referendum.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party won a 1990 general election, but the military refused to allow the party to take power.
The guidelines for a new constitution call for the military to maintain a prominent role in politics, and its provisions on eligibility would bar Suu Kyi from holding elected office.
Suu Kyi's party has charged that the junta was trying to draft a constitution unilaterally, and that it therefore "could not be expected to guarantee democracy, human rights and public well-being."
The suggestion by U.N. envoy Gambari to offer the regime incentives is not a new one. In 1998, the United Nations and World Bank held secret talks with Myanmar's government and opposition leaders to offer the junta US$1 billion in financial and humanitarian aid if it would open a dialogue with the opposition.
Gambari said one approach could be "a combination of strong encouragement of the authorities in Myanmar to do the right thing along with some incentives to say that ... the world is not there just to punish Myanmar."
He did not elaborate, but his remarks during a visit to Jakarta came as the EU and countries such as the United States are widening sanctions imposed on the country.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also said this week that economic support could be given to Myanmar if it opens a dialogue with its opponents, including Suu Kyi.
