Myanmar’s military goes to ‘democracy school’ with new civilian MPs

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Myanmar’s military goes to ‘democracy school’ with new civilian MPs

8:21 CAT | 26 Feb 2016

UNDP / Members of Myanmar’s parliament – both military and civilian – go to ‘democracy classes’.

It is an undeniably odd sight: a member of Myanmar’s military sitting in uniform taking notes on the basics of democracy. Next to him sit former political prisoners and human rights activists who now hold a majority in the country’s first credible parliament.

Aung San Suu Kyi won a landmark general election last year, making her the de facto head of government. But her team of neophyte legislators, many of whom were locked up for years by the junta, are in need of a class in how to run the country.

The army – who ruled Myanmar by brute force for half a century – retains 25% of seats in parliament under a 2008 constitution it drafted, and its unelected representatives feel they could do with a lesson too.

And so the former enemies sat down last week at desks in parliament to attend a United Nations-led intensive course on how to carry out the job of being an MP in a modern democracy.

On the table were topics such as separation of powers, checks and balances, and ethics. “It is very useful,” a military MP said.

Workshops also focused on presentation skills, “essential characteristics of an effective MP”, working with the media and “how much influence or control one power can exert on the other”.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who has led the pro-democracy movement since 1988, has taken a pragmatic approach to politics and it paid off. Her National League for Democracy holds a majority in parliament and, while she is banned from the presidency by the constitution, she can handpick her candidate.

In 2011 the Tatmadaw (armed forces) ceded power to a semi-civilian government that initiated sweeping economic and political reforms. The November elections were widely credited as transparent and credible by international observers, although they condemned the army’s automatic retention of 25% of parliamentary seats.

The NLD lawmakers repeatedly brought up the issue at democracy school, asking how Myanmar can be considered a democracy if not all seats are elected.

“Isn’t it unusual to have the military sitting in parliament?” asked an NLD MP.

The international “teachers” responded diplomatically. “It is not unusual in the region: Malaysia had the military. I am not saying that this is the model, but it’s one I am familiar with,” said former Australian MP Janelle Saffin.

Aung San Suu Kyi spoke at the opening of the course. “This programme will train us. And although this is a young parliament, I would like to see a parliament that is respected by the world,” said the NLD leader, who spent 15 years under house arrest before witnessing the end of the dictatorship.

MPs from Hong Kong, South Korea, Britain, Australia, Pakistan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Bhutan came to assist their Burmese colleagues, invited by the United Nations development programme, the Myanmar parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

“In a normal situation you would learn from more experienced colleagues, but here they are virtually all at the same level of inexperience,” Meg Munn, a former British MP and facilitator at the induction programme, said.

Challenging questions unthinkable only a few years ago were asked while the row of 15 military officials – lieutenant generals, majors and colonels – sat quietly among their civilian colleagues.

“What happens if one of the powers trespasses its scope?” asked an NLD MP from Bago constituency, referring to the role of the military in parliament. The advice from former MP Saffin was to work with “other MPs who shared the same concern”.

“The new MPs are concerned. They are very motivated, but they don’t know how their role as representative in parliament really works,” said Hong Kong MP Paul Ise.

“The military is participating well, especially as it is not easy for them to concede power,” he added.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s commander-in-chief, shakes hands with Aung San Suu Kyi after her election triumph.

Eager to learn and listen

Indeed, officials of the Tatmadaw engaged at the afternoon roundtables with their NLD colleagues and MPs from smaller ethnic parties. As they sat around a large sheet of paper spread out across the table for them to write down ideas, a military politician proposed the creation of certain subcommittees to help parliament function more smoothly.

“The level of enthusiasm is not something you would normally see in our countries. They are eager to learn and they listen. There is a ‘back to basics’ feeling,” said Jasmine Lee, an MP in the South Korean parliament. “But it will be a generational change; it will have to happen in small steps.”

Despite visible signs of a democracy in the making, newly-elected U Ar Moe Si highlights some obstacles to the transition. “I have walked for days through snow and ice just to get to the first airport from my village in Northern Kachin,” he says wearing a traditional waistcoat and hat over his western clothes.

“Then I had to take two flights and, once in Mandalay, I jumped on a bus to come to the capital. This course is useful, but when the international MPs say that we should use internet and social networks to engage with our voters, I can’t really do that because there is no internet where I come from. Some of my people died without having ever seen a car.”

There are problems at the parliament building, too, MPs said. The vast chambers and corridors have no functional space, having been conceived as a celebrative space that reflects the different stages of Buddhist cosmology.

“There’s no working space here,” said Daw Sharmu, echoing the complaint of many of her colleagues.

A library and a learning centre were recently set up with international help. And now the parliament building is occasionally open to guided tours, there is even a souvenir shop.

A mug with I Love Hluttaw – as the two-chamber legislature is called – is among the highlights of the post-dictatorship period.

Source: The Guardian