Myanmar wrapped up a 14-year-old national convention to write guidelines for a new constitution yesterday, completing what military rulers call a first step back to democracy but what critics dismiss as a sham.
The guidelines, yet to be published in full, would ensure the military a prominent role in politics and would bar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from holding elected office.
Observers expressed skepticism about the process.
"The completion of the first step can be seen as a positive development, but we have to see how honestly the government will proceed with the remaining steps of the road map," an Asian diplomat said on condition of anonymity due to the matter's sensitivity.
Some 1,000 delegates returned to the Nyaung-Hna-Pin convention center, about 45km north of Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, for the closing ceremony of the convention.
The ceremony took place after two weeks of demonstrations against high prices for fuel and consumer goods. Public protests against the government are extremely rare in the tightly controlled country.
The demonstrations have cooled down in the past few days, largely because the government has employed civilian toughs to quickly quash any demonstrations and has jailed many top pro-democracy activists. But security remained high yesterday in Yangon.
Critics have denounced the constitutional process as a stage-managed farce because the military hand-picked most delegates, and because Suu Kyi is under house arrest and could not attend.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party has accused the junta of drafting a constitution unilaterally, saying it doubts the new document would guarantee human rights and democracy and that the junta is likely to continue ruling the country.
NLD member Khun Myint Tun in July called the constitutional convention a "sham" after briefly attending, saying it included only a handful of people who had ever been elected in polls and that junta leaders "are just trying to gain the upper hand so the army can continue ruling the country."
Foreign media were not allowed at the closing ceremony, and few delegates were willing to be quoted by name about the proceedings, fearful that any criticism might offend the military.
The next stage in the seven-step road map is supposed to be drafting the constitution, but it remains unclear who will do so.
The draft would then be voted on in a national referendum, and the process would culminate in general elections, Myanmar's first since 1990, at a still-unspecified date. The military refused to honor the results of that poll after it was won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.
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