News & Articles on Burma-Monday, 31 January, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Monday, 31 January, 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------
Thein Sein Set to Be New President
Next Myanmar president to be elected parliamentarian
Journalists barred from parliament
Shwe Mann elected as speaker
Suu Kyi's NLD party remains defiant
NLD Website Launched
Security Tight as Burmese Parliament Convenes
Rangoon Residents Made Homeless
Burmese to Get Just One Percent of Energy from Dams
Myanmar to Open Parliament for First Time Since the ’80s
Burma's parliament opens new session
Myanmar opens junta-dominated parliament
Security tight for Burma’s sham parliament
Suu Kyi launches website
New Myanmar Parliament Convenes For 1st Time In 22 Years
-------------------------------------------------




Thein Sein Set to Be New President
By WAI MOE Monday, January 31, 2011

Leaked information from Naypyidaw on Monday evening suggested that junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe had chosen Prime Minister ex-Gen Thein Sein to be the new president of Burma.

Thein Sein, who retired from the army in April to lead the junta’s proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party, is Than Shwe’s longterm friend and close aide.

Military sources in Naypyidaw said Thein Sein is described among military officials as “Mr. Clean,” as he is much less corrupt than other generals, such as Shwe Mann and ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo.

Thein Sein, 65, graduated from the elite military school, Defense Services Academy (DSA) Intake 9 in 1968 along with another top junta official, ex Lt-Gen Tin Aye, who many predict could also be in a high-ranking position in the incoming government.

In 1991, Thein Sein served in the War Office as the Colonel General Staff Officer Rank-1 under Than Shwe when the latter was the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Before being Colonel General Staff Officer at the War Office, he was commander of Infantry Battalion 84 in Kalay Township, Sagaing Division.

Later Thein Sein was promoted to Brigadier-General, but still served as the General Staff Officer of the War Office, which was the first time that a Brigadier General had been promoted to General Staff Officer.

In early 1995 he became the commander of Military Operations Command -4 in Hmawbi, Rangoon Division. Following brief service as the commander of MOC-4, Thein Sein was appointed to lead the newly formed Triangle Regional Military Command in Kengtung, eastern Shan State, in 1996.

He later returned to the War Office as Adjutant General during a military reshuffle following a fatal helicopter accident which took the lives of Lt-Gen Tin Oo and other generals in 2001.

He became the junta’s Secretary-1 after former spy chief Gen Khin Nyunt’s downfall in Oct 2004 while Gen Soe Win became Prime Minister.

In April 2007, while Soe Win was suffering from leukemia, Thein Sein was appointed acting prime minister. In October 2007, he became the permanent prime minister after Soe Win passed away.

Appointing Thein Sein as the President of the Republic of Union of Myanmar is thought to be a major part of Than Shwe's hidden agenda in dealing with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), as well as China and India.

Than Shwe has reportedly given much thought to how his new line-up will look in the eyes of the international community ahead of Burma chairing Asean for the first time in 2014, and hosting the Southeast Asian Games in 2013, Asean diplomatic sources hinted.

Although Thein Sein is known to be the quietest Head of Government among the Asean leaders at regional summits, he is renowned for being confident and persuasive in international dealings.

However, one serious worry for Thein Sein in the coming five-year presidential term is his long-suffering heart disease. Reportedly, he repeatedly asked Than Shwe for permission to retire in 2010 for heath reasons.

There are suggestions, therefore, that Thein Sein might in fact be unhappy with his appointment as President of Burma.

Related Story: Thein Sein to Head Political Party?

http://irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20643
---------------------------------------------
Next Myanmar president to be elected parliamentarian (2nd Roundup)

Jan 31, 2011, 13:48 GMT

Naypyitaw, Myanmar - Myanmar's next president will be an elected member of parliament, ruling out the country's current military supremo as a candidate, state media announced Monday.

The announcement was made on Myanmar television by General Shwe Mann - the third most powerful person in the country's ruling junta - who was voted speaker of the lower house earlier in the day at the first session of parliament since the November 7 polls.

'The president, vice president and all cabinet members in the coming government will be elected members of parliament,' Shwe Mann said.

Earlier Monday, Shwe Mann was elected lower house speaker while Khin Aung Myint, another general and the current culture minister, was voted upper house speaker.

Voting by the two chambers was dominated by the military through the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won 77 per cent of the contested seats, and 166 military-appointed legislators, who account for 25 per cent of the votes.

Civilians were elected as vice speakers.

'On Tuesday, we will nominate three presidential candidates,' one legislator said. It is unclear when the parliament will vote on the president.

It was previously widely speculated that Senior General Than Shwe, Myanmar's junta chief since 1992, aspired to the presidency.

But Shwe Mann's announcement excluded him as a candidate, since Than Shwe, who turns 78 on Wednesday, did not contest the general election.

It is still believed that Than Shwe will attempt to control the next government by staying on as army commander-in-chief, analysts said.

Monday's parliamentary session was indicative of the 'discipline-flourishing democracy' Than Shwe has promised to bring about in past speeches.

The session was held amid tight security. Barricades were in place on roads leading to the massive 100-million-dollar parliament compound in Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of Yangon.

Legislators were escorted to the site by plainclothes policemen.

Military appointees make up 25 per cent of lawmakers in the three chambers, giving the military bloc veto power over any future legislation.

The stage-managed November general elections, part of Than Shwe's seven-step road to democracy, were condemned by Western democracies for being neither free nor fair.

Only the upper and lower houses meet in Naypyitaw this week. The regional and state parliaments will meet separately in their own capitals.

The likeliest candidate for president is now believed to Thein Sein, the current prime minister, since Shwe Mann has been named lower house speaker. Both Thein Shwe and Shwe Mann ran under the USDP banner.

'I think Than Shwe may feel that Thein Sein is more malleable than Shwe Mann,' said Win Min, a US-based Myanmar researcher.'He may also feel that Thein Sein may be more credible as president since Thein Sein's family is much less corrupt than Shwe Mann's family.'

The new president will select the next cabinet, which is expected to be packed with USDP members, and sit on the National Defence and Security Council, which will control the military.

The commander-in-chief will also sit on the council, a new entity in Myanmar's political scene.

'This council is more powerful than the president on security issues and the commander-in-chief is more powerful in this council than the president, having more active military votes,' Win Min said. 'The council can declare state of emergency, suspend cabinet/parliament and appoint a new commander-in-chief.'
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1615936.php/Next-Myanmar-president-to-be-elected-parliamentarian-2nd-Roundup
--------------------------------------------------
Journalists barred from parliament
By SHWE AUNG
Published: 31 January 2011

Journalists will not be allowed to enter parliament today to cover the first session in more than two decades, despite reported pledges to the contrary.

It also remains unclear whether media will be allowed to report on any future sittings, the chairman of the Committee for Professional Conduct (CPC), Ko Ko, told DVB.

“The CPC previously checked with the MoI [Ministry of Information] and was told that there was no plan to invite journalists to Naypyidaw for the parliament opening,” he said. This comes despite an announcement by Burma’s information minister, Kyaw Hsan, on 17 January that reporters would be permitted.

Some 18 foreign news correspondents arrived in Naypyidaw yesterday to cover the event, but a photojournalist said today it would be impossible even to take a photo of the parliament building because the road leading to it was barricaded with barbed wire.

An elected MP today said on condition of anonymity that two reporters from a domestic Burmese news journal were visited by government authorities at their guest house in the capital and had their names taken.

Burma has some of the world’s strictest media laws, and bans filming of so-called sensitive material that would include parliamentary debates unless expressly permitted to do so. Under the Electronics Act, journalists caught filming without permission face a 10-year prison sentence.

The CPC, which is ostensibly tasked with protecting the interests of journalists and issuing guidelines for media practice, was set up recently by the government’s censor board, which also enforces Burma’s draconian press laws.

Analysts have sought to dampen expectations about the first parliamentary session since elections in November last year. Both chambers are dominated by the pro-junta Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won 80 percent of the vote, while a quarter of seats have already been reserved for pre-appointed military officials who effectively carry power of veto.

A parliament did meet in 1988 prior to the ousting of Burma’s first dictator, Ne Win, but one has to go back to March 1962 for the last time it met under civilian rule.
http://www.dvb.no/news/journalists-barred-from-parliament/13962
-------------------------------------------------
Shwe Mann elected as speaker
By AHUNT PHONE MYAT
Published: 31 January 2011

The Burmese junta’s former third-in-command Shwe Mann has become chairman of the lower house of parliament, which today held its first session in more than 20 years.

He was elected towards the end of today’s sitting, which was attended by more than 1000 MPs who won seats in the 7 November 2010 elections.

Taking the top position in the upper house will be current culture minister, Khin Aung Myint. Both are recently retired members of the military-led government that has ruled Burma in various guises since 1962.

Vice-chairperson of the lower house, or People’s Parliament, will be Nanda Kyaw Swa, a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won 80 percent of seats and is set to dominate parliament. Myat Nyein, director of the Attorney General’s office, will take this position in the upper house, or Nationalities Parliament.

According to the 2008 constitution, the head of the Nationalities Parliament will reside of Union Parliament – the upper and lower house combined – for 30 months.

“The parliament announced that [three] vice-presidents will be appointed tomorrow,” said Khin Shwe, a USDP representative for the Nationalities Parliament, who was present at today’s session.

“One of them will be directly appointed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services and the two others will be appointed respectively from the People’s and the Nationalities Parliaments. One of the three vice-presidents will be elected by the Union Parliament as the president, and the other two will remain as vice-presidents.”

Security around the parliament building in Naypyidaw was tight, and eye-witnesses said that barbed wire blocked the main road leading to the building. Journalists were banned from entering, while MPs were given strict directions on dress code and banned items, which included cameras and mobile phones.

Khin Shwe added that each representative were given 300,000 kyat ($US300) to cover their food expenses for one month, while they in turn handed over an affidavit in order for them to become official MPs.
http://www.dvb.no/news/shwe-mann-elected-as-speaker/13970
------------------------------------------------
Suu Kyi's NLD party remains defiant
Published: Jan. 31, 2011 at 6:37 AM

YANGON, Myanmar, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Despite losing a legal appeal in Myanmar for recognition as an official political party, the National League for Democracy said it will continue to support the people.

Myanmar's highest court upheld the legal ruling the that the dissolution of the NLD late last year was correct according to law.

NLD party officials refused to register their organization with the electoral commission because their leader, democracy advocate and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was under house arrest.

Even if Suu Kyi would have been released prior to the vote laws enacted last summer made her ineligible to run in the election because she had a criminal record.

Only registered parties had official status and could run in the Nov. 7 elections, the first in 20 years, but considered fraudulent by many Western nations.

The junta reserved one-quarter of the seats in the new Parliament that will sit for the first time this week. Critics of the junta and pro-democracy groups said this means the military will remain in power in all but name.

Many of the junta's ruling elite resigned their military positions to swell the ranks of the Union Solidarity and Development Party that claimed to have won 80 percent of the votes.

The NLD took the case concerning its legal standing to courts four times.

"Our existence and our legality does not change because of this court decision," Nyan Win, Suu Kyi's lawyer and member of the NLD, said. "Our party still exists. As Aung San Suu Kyi said, what really matters is the support of the people."

Many Western countries had urged the junta to release Suu Kyi as well as other political prisoners as a sign the military was sincere about moving toward democracy.

However, Suu Kyi, who had spent most the past 20 years under some form of incarceration, ranging from prison terms to lengthy house arrests, remained under house arrest at her lakeside home near the old capital of Yangon, formerly called Rangoon.

Democracy advocates decried the military's obstinacy over the release of Suu Kyi as a sign the junta was taking no chances of her and the NLD gaining another victory. She won the previous election in 1991 but the military refused to hand over power.

Suu Kyi was released shortly after the election and greeted by an emotional crowd.

News of the court ruling came as Suu Kyi was addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, calling for more investment in Myanmar, formerly called Burma, as a way of helping the 55 million people.

She said that Myanmar had "already missed so many opportunities because of political conflicts," but she said investors should "put a premium on respect for the law" and a national reconciliation.

"Economic policies linked to human development and capacity building are the best path to the achievement of stability in a democratic transition," Suu Kyi said. "I would like to appeal to all those present ... to promote national reconciliation, genuine democratization, human development and economic growth in Burma."

During her last house detention, which lasted seven years, she often had talks with senior junta officials about the economic progress of Myanmar and said she would work toward reconciliation and ending EU and U.S. trade embargoes.

This week, Myanmar's elected members of Parliament meet for the first time in a recently finished building in Nay Pyi Taw, the new capital created out in the jungle by the ruling generals in 2005.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/01/31/Suu-Kyis-NLD-party-remains-defiant/UPI-42311296473820/#ixzz1Cc8mZcI6
---------------------------------------------------
NLD Website Launched
By KO HTWE Monday, January 31, 2011

Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi showed this weekend that—despite many years in detention—her resolve to keep apace with an ever-changing world is as dynamic as ever when she presided over the launch of her party, the National League for Democracy's (NLD's) first website.

“A good communication system is essential to our endeavor to set up a people's network for democracy that will span the whole world,” said Suu Kyi in a statement on the site's home page.

“I am very pleased indeed that there is now a web page that will make the policies and activities of the National League for Democracy known across the globe,” she added.

On Jan. 20, the Nobel Peace Prize winner finally received Internet access at her Inya Lake home from the Myanmar Post and Telecommunications Enterprise.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Moe Zaw Oo, the secretary of the exile National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) Foreign Affairs Committee, said the NLD can voice polices and information through its website.

“This website can be a place to make contact with the NLD,” he said.

However, the NLD in Rangoon denied that the website, http://www.nldburma.org was designed and created by party members in Burma.

“The website was created by NLD members abroad,” said Tin Oo, the NLD vice chairman. “It would have been very difficult to create it inside Burma. It is hard enough just to get a telephone line in this country.”

Some observers said the NLD is denying involvement in the website because of the Burmese military junta's infamous Electronics Act, which carries sentences of between seven and 15 years imprisonment.

The law, which forbids unauthorized use of electronic media, has been used against many pro-democracy dissidents in trials held at Insein Prison, resulting in lengthy prison sentences for critics of the ruling regime’s crackdown on monks in 2007 and its response to Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

In 2009, the state-run media in Burma issued warnings aimed toward members of the NLD, saying they could be charged with violating the Electronics Act for posting a party statement about Suu Kyi’s trial on the Internet.

The website also carried a “greeting” from Tin Oo. Like the message from Suu Kyi, he made no mention of the website being NLD-controlled, but congratulated the creators of the site.

“We welcome the opening of a web page dedicated to the promoting of the interest[s] of the NLD,” he said in a signed statement.

The NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990 general election. However, the results were never recognized by the junta. Instead, many leading members of the party were arrested and are now serving lengthy prison terms.

The NLD executive committee decided unanimously not to register the party for the Nov. 7 election. The decision not to register was prompted by the election laws, which members described as “unjust” and unlikely to result in a fair and inclusive election.

The laws excluded anyone serving a criminal sentence from participating in the election—a provision that bars NLD leader Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. In order to participate in the election, the NLD would have had to expel Suu Kyi from the party.

The NLD was dissolved by Burma’s Election Commission for not re-registering ahead of November's election. The party submitted an appeal against its dissolution but the High Court in Naypyidaw rejected it on Friday.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20641
----------------------------------------------
Security Tight as Burmese Parliament Convenes
By BA KAUNG Thursday, March 3, 2011

At 8:55 am on Monday, the first session of Burma's new Parliament convened in a highly scripted manner and amid tight security in the country's remote capital of Naypyidaw, although the event went largely unnoticed among the majority of the public.

Since early morning, more than 600 legislators elected in last November's elections proceeded to the new Parliament building in the capital—a majority of them representing the junta's proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) or appointed by the military according to the country's 2008 Constitution.

While many legislators from opposition parties were taken to the Parliament in government-arranged buses from state-run guesthouse in Naypyidaw, businessmen elected as USDP legislators were seen arriving there in luxury cars, according to a Reuters report.

Myo Zaw Aung, a member of the National Democratic Force (NDF) who is acting as an assistant to one of the party's MPs, said there were no signs of excitement on the faces of the opposition MPs as they got onto the buses, as most were not even sure of the procedures they would have to go through during the day.

“MPs were told that today they were to elect the Speaker of the House and that they would be notified of the day when the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a combination of lower and upper houses, would start. Except for that, they weren't told anything about what was going to take place inside the building,” he said.

“The only thing they knew for sure is it that once they entered, it wouldn't be easy to leave. There are many things to pass through on the way leading into and out of the Parliament.”

As Burma's Parliament met for the first time in more than two decades, security in Naypyidaw and the former capital Rangoon was tight. The media has been granted no access to the Parliament building, and reporters covering the event in Naypyidaw were not even allowed to go inside the state-run guesthouse where the MPs were staying.

The latest photos coming out of Burma today showed security agents searching for explosives in the buses which carried the MPs. The main road leading to the Parliament building was closed and some MPs going there in their own cars were required to obtain security passes beforehand.

Meanwhile, state and regional legislative assemblies across the country also convened today amid tight security, with the authorities even banning this week's Chinese lunar New Year's festivities as a measure to prevent large gatherings.

Despite being the first time that Burma's Parliament has convened since the collapse of former dictator Ne Win's regime in 1988, the public response to today's events has been muted, as few seem to regard it as anything more than a continuation of the military rule that has been in place since 1962.

“Nobody here cares what's going on in Naypyidaw. It's just another day,” said a magazine editor in Rangoon. “Many saw the blatant cheating during the election, so they know there's nothing to be excited about now.”

Despite the scripted parliamentary sessions and public indifference, speculation is still swirling about who will be the president of the new government. Although recent reports indicated that junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe has appointed himself to the top spot in the new government, the latest rumors in the country suggest that the position could go to the junta's prime minister, former Gen Thein Sein.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=20640
--------------------------------------------
Rangoon Residents Made Homeless
By KO HTWE Monday, January 31, 2011

Dozens of residents on 33rd Street in Kyauktada Township are being forced to move from their homes because the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) has ordered their apartments demolished as it paves the way for new condominiums in downtown Rangoon, according to local sources.

In December, YCDC officials issued notice to the owners or residents of 27 apartments in the Rangoon area, including apartment blocks on 33rd Street, telling them that as the blocks of apartments were hazardous and dangerous, the residents must move within the coming weeks.

Night scene on 33rd Street in downtown Rangoon (PHOTO: Paul Ark)
Some construction companies, most notably the Naing Group, have negotiated with YCDC to take over projects to build new condominiums in their place across the city.

Family members of a small neighborhood enterprise, Shwe Glass Shop, on 33rd Street, said they have not received any compensation from the Naing Group and the YCDC.

“Although we have not settled on an agreement with the company and YCDC, they have already begun demolishing the building,” said Kyaw Soe, a neighbor of the Shwe Glass Shop.

Residents said that before demolition began, the construction company agreed to pay compensation to all those affected by the rebuilding.

“Some of the residents have already accepted compensation and have moved to another place, but company didn’t agree to pay for Shwe Glass's first-floor apartment so they didn’t move,” said Kyaw Soe.

YCDC should ensure that there are no people living in the buildings before they destroy them, he added.

In August, YCDC listed as dangerous 15 other buildings in downtown Rangoon, according to Eleven media group.

On Jan. 18, 11 households at No. 184/ 185 33rd Street, an apartment block named “Umbrella House,” were removed from their apartments under the orders of No. 1 Industry Ministry officials, local residents said.

YCDC sent a letter on Jan. 13 warning Umbrella House residents to move out by Jan.18, but most were unable to make plans given the time limit.

“On that day, the police came and tried to break down the doors of some second-floor residents who refused to leave,” said one of the residents.

Umbrella House is a government-funded project. However, many of the residents have lived in the apartment block for 30 years and are reportedly unable to afford another apartment.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20639
---------------------------------------------
Burmese to Get Just One Percent of Energy from Dams
By SAI ZOM HSENG Monday, January 31, 2011

Almost all of the electricity expected to be generated by hydropower dams now under construction in Burma will be sold to China and Thailand, with just one percent going to domestic consumers, according to environmental watchdog groups.

During a recent seminar on the Thai-Burmese border, groups researching the impact of the dams on rivers in Burma and neighboring countries noted that Chinese companies are involved in all but one of 21 major dam projects currently underway in Burma.

“Since China is the main investor in the dam projects, it will receive most of the electricity. China will get 48 percent, while 38 percent will go to Thailand and 3 percent to India. Only one percent will be available for domestic consumption,” said Sai Sai, the coordinator of Burma Rivers Network (BRN), one of the groups that took part in the seminar.

The remaining 10 percent, he added, will be used by the Burmese military and on large-scale development projects such as the construction of a natural gas pipeline from western Burma's Arakan State to China.

According to BRN, the 21 dams being built in Kachin, Shan, and Karenni states and Mandalay and Sagaing divisions will produce a total of 35,640 megawatts (MW) of electricity.

Following visits to Burma by Chinese officials late last year, Chinese investment in the Tasang dam, located on the Salween River in Shan State, is set to increase from US $6 billion to $10 billion, said Sai Sai, who added that the dam will be the largest in the state when it is completed.

While China is laying claim to most of the electricity being generated by the dams, India is also investing heavily in other projects designed to meet its own needs.

The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, which aims increase India's trade with Southeast Asian countries and give it better access to its isolated northeastern state of Mizoram, was also criticized at the seminar for failing to take into account its impact on local people and the environment.

“We're not saying the project should never be implemented, but it should be put on hold until there is a more accountable government in Burma that will think about the impact and the effects of the project,” said Aung Marm Oo, the director of the Arakan Rivers Network.

The project, which will involve the development of the Sittwe seaport in Arakan State and the dredging of the Kaladan waterway to Paletwa in Chin State, will be carried out by Indian state-owned and private companies in cooperation with the Burmese regime, which will be responsible for constructing a highway from Paletwa to the Burma-India border.

According to Indian media reports, the $110 million Indian-funded project will be completed in 2014-5.

Meanwhile, Bangladesh has also staked a claim to a portion of Burma's growing hydropower capacity. It plans to buy most of the electricity that will be generated by four projects now under construction in Arakan State, including the Laymro dam, which will become the largest in western Burma with a capacity of 500 MW.

Some of the remaining electricity will be used to construct pipelines to send natural gas from Burma's Shwe gas fields to China, according to ARN's Aung Marm Oo.

ARN says that its research shows that the projects will deprive local people of their land and livelihoods. Even in the preliminary stages of the projects, there have been many cases of land confiscation and forced labor, the group said.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20638
-------------------------------------------------
Myanmar to Open Parliament for First Time Since the ’80s
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: January 30, 2011

BANGKOK — Myanmar’s ruling generals on Monday convened the first meeting of Parliament in more than two decades, a move they say completes the impoverished country’s transition to a multiparty democracy.

Reporters were barred from the Parliament building when the session was convened Monday morning under tight security in the capital, Naypyidaw, the Associated Press reported.

Officially the opening of the two-chamber Parliament will mean the dissolution of the junta that has ruled Myanmar since 1988, when the country was known as Burma.

But it does not appear to be the dawn of unfettered democracy. A quarter of the seats are reserved for the military, and a military-backed party controls more than 80 percent of the rest, allowing the generals to effectively retain their power, albeit in a less hierarchical system.

“The military is staying in control, but some of them are taking off their uniforms,” said Win Min, a professor at Payap University in Thailand who is on leave in the United States.

One key question is whether Myanmar’s top general, Than Shwe, will become president, the most powerful job under the new Constitution, but one that would require him to resign as commander in chief.

Gen. Than Shwe, who has successfully crushed uprisings and purged potential rivals inside the military during his nearly two decades in power, turns 78 on Wednesday, according to a government booklet published three decades ago. (The military government has been so secretive that even the birthday of the country’s top leader is not known with certainty.)

Myanmar’s new system will resemble a democracy more in form than in substance, analysts say, but with the possibility of more debate and inclusiveness than under the junta’s top-down rule. Myanmar’s news media in exile has reported that questions in Parliament must be submitted by members 10 days in advance and pass a vetting process.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of open, democratic governance during these first five years,” said Priscilla A. Clapp, who was the chief of mission at the United States Embassy in Myanmar from 1999 to 2002. “But with a system that is so much more complex, inevitably competing centers of power will develop.”

The opening of Parliament, which follows elections in November, is only one of a number of changes inside Myanmar.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the country’s leading dissident, was freed from house arrest a week after the elections and is now seeking to rebuild her pro-democracy movement. The military government, meanwhile, is aggressively selling off buildings, factories and state-run companies, mostly to allies and family members of the country’s military leaders. The rush to privatization vaguely resembles the vast sell-off in Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Neighboring countries have responded by pushing harder to end Myanmar’s international isolation, including an effort to lift the economic sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and other Western countries.

The two chambers of Parliament and representatives from the military will nominate three vice presidents, one of whom will be elected president and choose a cabinet. Names of potential cabinet members circulating in Myanmar in recent days included many of the people who held positions of power under the military government.

Parliament last met in Myanmar under the one-party rule of Gen. Ne Win, who formally retired from politics in 1988 during a time of unrest, but the country has not had a genuine multiparty system since 1962, when the military took power in a coup.
A version of this article appeared in print on January 31, 2011, on page A5 of the New York edition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/world/asia/31myanmar.html?ref=asia
-------------------------------------------------
31 January 2011 Last updated at 02:56 GMT
Burma's parliament opens new session
By Rachel Harvey BBC South East Asia Correspondent
Parliament building in Naypyitaw More than 1,000 deputies will gather for the session

The new parliament in Burma has convened for the first time since elections were held last November.

The poll was widely criticised by western governments and by democracy activists within Burma.

The first sitting of the bicameral national parliament brings into effect a new constitution and officially ends nearly 50 years of military rule.

But critics say the real power in Burma will still be in the hands of a few key generals.

A quarter of seats in parliament are reserved for serving members of the armed forces.

In Burma's remote jungle capital, Naypyitaw, newly-elected politicians and their newly-appointed military equivalents opened their session in a newly-built parliament at 0855 (0225 GMT), a time chosen for its auspiciousness.

The vast majority of the seats are occupied by members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) which is backed by the current military government.
Aung San Suu Kyi speaks to young people at the headquarters of the disbanded NLD party in Rangoon Aung San Suu Kyi and her party will not be in the new parliament

The USDP won almost 77% of the vote in November's election. Critics say this thumping majority was achieved partly through intimidation and fraud, and partly because the pro-democracy party led by Aung San Sui Kyi decided to boycott.

Although there are some independent politicians in parliament, the USDP's dominance, backed by the military caucus, appears to tilt it in favour of the status quo.

One of the first duties of the new parliament is to form an electoral college to nominate candidates for president and vice president.

Only then will it become clear who will hold the reigns of power in the new-look Burma.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12321085
--------------------------------------------
Myanmar opens junta-dominated parliament
January 31, 2011 - 2:19PM

Myanmar's new junta-dominated parliament opened on Monday as lawmakers assembled in secrecy for their first legislative session since the late 1980s following a widely panned election.

No foreign media representatives were allowed to witness the event or even take photographs of the new parliament building where elected and designated lawmakers convened in the military regime's purpose-built capital, Naypyidaw.

"Parliament started at 8:55 (am, 0225 GMT). All members attended," a Myanmar official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Advertisement: Story continues below

The timing -- almost certainly a product of the regime's penchant for astrology -- was just one aspect of this new parliament peculiar to a nation that has withered under the iron grip of military rule since 1962.

After a rare election in November, marred by the absence of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and claims of cheating and intimidation, the junta was set to easily dominate Myanmar's first parliamentary session in two decades.

The formation of the national parliament in Naypyidaw and 14 regional assemblies takes the country towards the final stage of the junta's so-called "roadmap" to a "disciplined democracy", conceived in 2003.

But a quarter of the seats were kept aside for the military even before the vote, and the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party claimed an overwhelming victory, winning 882 out of 1,154 seats.

While the regime may have been planning for years, the lawmakers themselves were in the dark about their roles in the parliament, where proceedings may remain secret and rules ban recording devices, computers and mobile phones.

"No one really knows how the parliaments will be organised. We will know when we get there," said Soe Win, a National Democratic Force (NDF) legislator.

"My feeling is that we are moving one step forward."

Suu Kyi, released from house arrest a few days after the polls, was less optimistic in a Financial Times interview published this weekend, downplaying the impact of political changes.

"I don't think the elections mean there is going to be any kind of real change in the political process," she was quoted as saying. "I was released because my term was up. There is nothing strange about it."

The crucial question of who will be the country's next president has yet to be discussed openly, although Thura Shwe Mann, the former army number three, has recently been linked with the top spot.

Senior General Than Shwe, who has dominated the country since taking power in 1992, is now 77 but analysts say the strongman is reluctant to relinquish his hold completely.

Once appointed, the president will select a government, and can be confident of little resistance from a parliament dominated by the military and its cronies.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) will not have a voice after it was disbanded for opting to boycott the election, while the two main opposition parties that decided to participate and won seats are political minnows.

The NDF, which split from the NLD in order to contest the vote, will take 16 seats in national and regional legislatures and the Democratic Party (Myanmar) has just three.

Parties from the country's diverse ethnic minority regions have a little more clout than the democracy parties and want to speak up for their areas, which many feel have long been neglected.

© 2011 AFP http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/myanmar-opens-juntadominated-parliament-20110131-1aaq4.html
-------------------------------------------------
Security tight for Burma’s sham parliament
By Zin Linn Jan 31, 2011 12:08AM UTC

Security measures were tightened Sunday around Burma’s newly-built grandiose parliamentary buildings, which will be used for the first time this week by lawmakers elected in the country’s first polls in two decades in November.

Barbwire barricades were in place on the way to the huge parliament complex in Naypyitaw, Burma’s new capital since 2005, situated 350 kilometres north of the old capital Rangoon or Yangon.

Plain-clothed security personnel were posted at municipal guest houses where hundreds of legislators were lodged ahead of the first session of the upper and lower houses of parliament starting at 8.55am on Monday.

As the trustworthiness of the junta’s 2008 constitution and 2010 polls was dismissed by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party, the up-to-date parliamentary meetings seem unlikely to change the political environment of the country.

According to Mizzima News Agency, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Myanmar (FCCM) held a meeting in Rangoon on January 18 and decided to submit an application to the Ministry of Information for right of entry into parliamentary sessions to cover the events.

“We applied via the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division. But, we haven’t got any reply. We are still waiting,” a Rangoon-based correspondent from a foreign news agency told the Mizzima News.

However, on January 17, during an opening ceremony for a library in one Township in Rangoon, Information Minister Kyaw Hsan told local correspondents from a foreign news agency that tje Information Ministry has been planning to invite journalists from foreign news agencies to cover parliamentary sessions. However, it seems this is unlikely to happen.

The parliamentary buildings are new; as are the members of parliament. Incoming lawmakers have to obey strict instructions provided in 17 booklets covering everything from legislation and how to vote to dress code. All lawmakers are to wear traditional outfits, with ethnic representatives putting on the costume of their respective ethnic groups.

Although there are 388 military-appointed members of parliament for three chambers, only the upper and lower houses, with 166 military appointees, will assemble in Naypyitaw on Monday. The regional and state parliaments will convene separately in their own regional capitals.

Parliament’s primary mission will be to nominate three presidential candidates to be chosen by a junta-backed electoral college, as hinted by the observers. No other bills will be allowed putting forward for discussion. No media personnel were invited to cover the opening ceremony of the parliament as yet. It will be a premeditated performance or fake assembly.

A report – Burma’s 2010 Elections: a comprehensive report – released by Burma Fund UN Office today for the opening of Burma’s first Parliament, documents the widespread political repression and human rights abuses marring the electoral process. It found that none of the fundamental requirements for free and fair elections exist in Burma, and instead the human rights crisis deepened, as a consequence of the elections.

The Burma Fund UN Office Director, Dr Thaung Htun evaluated the recent November polls as a political deception mixed with human rights abuses.

“The parliament sitting today, is little more than a calculated ruse. The actors are the same; it is only the stage that has been newly decorated. However, we must not lose hope, the election is far from an end in itself and cannot divert the aspirations of the people for a genuine democratic transition. The agents of change in Burma are the people and their true representatives, who were cruelly excluded from the election process.”

“Even though a lot of challenges lie ahead on the path to freedom, the genuine pro-democracy and ethnic leaders and activists will continue to stand with the people, fearlessly facing down the military regime, and eventually, the will of the people will prevail in shaping the future of Burma.”
http://asiancorrespondent.com/47335/burmas-parliament-sitting-today-is-little-more-than-a-calculated-ruse/?utm_source=Asian+Correspondent&utm_campaign=1eee242d67-DAILY_RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
--------------------------------------------
Suu Kyi launches website

Rangoon - Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi this weekend launched a website to consolidate international links and speed up "democratic union" in her military-led country.

"A good communication system is essential to our endeavour to set up a people's network for democracy that will span the whole world," Suu Kyi said in a statement posted online Monday.

By moving the message of her National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party online, "I believe we shall be able to achieve our goal of a democratic union at a faster pace," she said.

The statement was co-signed by NLD vice chairman Tin Oo.

The website, http://www.nldburma.org, was made possible when authorities allowed Suu Kyi internet access on November 21.
The NLD is Burma's main opposition party. It won the 1990 general election by a landslide, but has been blocked from power by the ruling junta for the past 20 years, with most of its leadership thrown in jail.

The NLD boycotted the November election in response to new regulations that would have required it to drop its leader Suu Kyi as a member. As a consequence of the boycott, it lost its party status.
The Nation http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Suu-Kyi-launches-website-30147566.html
--------------------------------------
January 31, 2011 19:45 PM
New Myanmar Parliament Convenes For 1st Time In 22 Years

NAY PYI TAW, Jan 31 (Bernama) -- Myanmar started its first three-chamber parliament sessions simultaneously on Monday, with the sessions of the house of representatives (lower house) and house of nationalities (upper house) taking place at the newly- built parliament buildings in the new capital of Nay Pyi Taw.

While, the sessions of region or state parliament also began separately in 14 respective regions or states on the same day, reports China's Xinhua news agency reported Monday.

This sitting is a historic moment for Myanmar since the last time Parliament had a sitting in this conflicted country was more than 20 years ago.

The summon for the first sessions of the three-level parliaments in two decades by the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) came nearly three months after the end of the multi-party general election on Nov 7, 2010.

The union parliament, made up of the house of representatives and the house of nationalities, will elect the country's president and vice presidents and the president will form a new government according to the new state constitution.

The parliamentary sessions are expected to continue for days.

A total of 1,537 parliament representatives including 1,154 elected through the Nov 7, 2010 general election and 388 or 25 percent through direct nomination by the military are expected to attend the first three-level parliamentary sessions.

The 659 union parliament representatives (house of representatives and house of nationalities) are made up of 493 elected ones and 166 or 25 percent directly nominated military ones.

Of the 493 elected parliamentary house of representatives and house of nationalities, 388 come mainly from the majority winning Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), led by Prime Minister U Thein Sein, 17 from the National Unity Party (NUP), 21 from The Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), 16 from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) and 12 from the National Democratic Force (NDF).

In the 2010 general election, 1,154 candidates out of over 3, 000 representing political parties in contesting were elected as parliamentary representatives at three levels, in which 325 as representatives to the house of representatives, 168 as representatives to the house of nationalities and 661 as representatives to the region or state parliament.

Thirty-seven political parties including 82 independents took part in the parliamentary election held across the country's seven regions and seven ethnic states in November last year.

-- BERNAMA http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=560882