Myanmar opens talks today on drafting a constitution but the junta has already refused to put a timetable on its transition to democracy despite coming under growing international pressure to reform.
The new session of the National Convention comes two days after Information Minister Kyaw Hsan officially confirmed that the military regime had extended by six months the house arrest of Myanmar's democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar has no constitution and the junta, headed by Senior General Than Shwe, has been discussing a new basic law on and off for more than a decade.
Writing a constitution is the first step on the military's "road map" to democracy that, in theory, would eventually lead to elections.
The reclusive military leaders, who have ruled the country since 1962, have come under mounting scrutiny in recent days.
The UN Security Council called on Friday for a formal meeting on Myanmar and Southeast Asian lawmakers have urged Myanmar's expulsion from ASEAN unless it carries out democratic reforms within a year.
But Kyaw Hsan told reporters on Saturday that no time frame could be put on the talks, which the junta says will lead to a "disciplined democracy."
"How many sessions there are and how long it will take are not important," Kyaw Hsan said, adding that it "depends on how many obstacles are placed in our way by the destructive elements."
He declined to elaborate on precisely who the "destructive elements" are.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) is boycotting the convention, calling for the Nobel peace laureate's release. Their absence has led European nations, the US and the UN to condemn the proceedings.
"We have many political parties and the NLD is just one of them," said Aung Toe, chief justice of the Supreme Court.
"Why do we have to invite them? They keep boycotting the convention. Why should we?" he said to a press conference on Saturday.
The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the junta never recognized the result.
The convention's next session, expected to last about two months, gathers more than 1,000 hand-picked delegates at a secluded military compound outside Yangon, where they stay with resort-like comforts including a movie theater and a golf course.
During the session, delegates are rarely allowed to leave the compound and have no contact with the outside world.
Sunai Phasuk, a consultant on Myanmar with Human Rights Watch in Bangkok, said the proceedings lacked any meaningful public participation.
"It is only the attempt of the regime to equip itself with some pretense of legitimacy," he said.
"It will not lead to reconciliation in the country, it will not lead to further democratization," he said.
The basic law would effectively bar Suu Kyi from running for president, and would allow the military to appoint one quarter of the members of an eventual parliament.
Asda Juyanama, a former Thai ambassador to Myanmar, said the junta's "objective is to have a constitution the way it wants."
"It's a put-up job," he said of the delegates gathering next week. "They have got their directives from the military already."
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