Burmese Parliament Speaker and former junta member Shwe Mann, on a visit to Washington of Friday, said that he will run for the nation’s presidency if nominated by the ruling party, and would consider forming a coalition with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Shwe Mann said high-level political talks involving Aung San Suu Kyi, and chiefs of the government, army and parliament, would soon indicate whether constitutional reforms sought by the opposition leader could be expedited before parliamentary elections. The vote, due by November, is a critical point in Myanmar’s bumpy transition from five decades of direct military rule.
The US has ended two decades of diplomatic isolation of Myanmar as it has shifted to quasi-civilian rule, but it is concerned that reforms are flagging, including prospects of amending the junta-era constitution to reduce the military’s parliamentary power and to open up the presidency to Aung San Suu Kyi, currently barred because she has sons by a foreign national.
The president will be elected by the next parliament. Burmese President Thein Sein, is not expected to seek re-election, although he has not ruled out the possibility. Aung San Suu Kyi also wants to run.
As things stand, Shwe Mann is a likely front runner. He was No. 3 in the junta, and is now a senior figure in the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). He became speaker of the lower house of parliament after the last national elections in 2010, which were boycotted by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party.
“If the USDP nominated me as the presidential candidate, I will be happy to accept,” Shwe Mann told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, in comments translated from Burmese to English.
He vowed to honor the election results.
Shwe Mann is visiting the US with a Myanmar parliamentary delegation, and has met US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. He is set to meet with US Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken tomorrow to discuss democratic reform.
Shwe Mann said parliament aspires to amend the constitution before the election, but called it a difficult task, requiring parliamentary approval and a national referendum. He said the pace at which that happened would depend on high-level political talks.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia