Myanmar's surprise announcement that it will hold a vote on a new constitution in May and a general election in 2010 drew little enthusiasm yesterday among the military regime's critics and the public at large.
The announcements late on Saturday of the constitutional referendum and the election were the first moves by the government to set dates for stages of its so-called road map to democracy.
"The time has now come to change from military rule to democratic civilian rule," according to the announcement for the 2010 polls, broadcast on state TV and radio.
Critics say the long-delayed road map is designed to perpetuate military rule, not promote democracy.
The last election in Myanmar took place in 1990, but the military refused to hand over power to the winning party -- the National League for Democracy (NLD) of detained Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been in prison or under house arrest for more than 12 of the past 18 years.
Trevor Wilson, a Myanmar expert at the Australian National University in Canberra, said: "This is certainly a step forward, but it is long overdue and is in itself insufficient to mollify either Burmese opponents of the military regime or the international community."
The international community increased pressure on the junta to hasten political reform after it violently quashed peaceful mass protests last September, killing at least 31 people, according to a UN estimate.
Last week, the US broadened financial sanctions against junta members and their families and friends, blaming the military's poor human rights record and failure to hand power to a democratically elected government.
A statement from the British Foreign Office in London said "a genuine and inclusive process of national reconciliation" was necessary for a transition to democracy and called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners.
Aung San Suu Kyi and others have not been consulted on the constitution or the election process.
The democracy icon's party reacted cautiously, noting the lack of detail on how the referendum would be carried out.
"The announcement is vague, incomplete and strange," NLD party spokesman Nyan Win said on Saturday night.
"Even before knowing the results of the referendum, the government has already announced that elections will be held in 2010," he said, implying the government was certain the draft constitution would be approved.
At tea shops in Yangon, where morning news and gossip are traditionally exchanged, many visitors seemed to be unimpressed with the developments.
"I am not interested in their referendum because the results are known already," 48-year old noodle salad seller Mar Mar Aye said.
Several people said they were unsure what a referendum was, noting the language describing it was similar to that used for the stage-managed mass rallies the government holds to show the public supports its policies. Myanmar's last constitutional referendum took place in 1974.
Scheduling the referendum for May makes it difficult for the junta's critics to mount a campaign against it, particularly because most leading pro-democracy activists are in jail, many detained in connection with last year's anti-government demonstrations.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962 and has not had a constitution since 1988, when the army brutally put down earlier pro-democracy demonstrations and the current junta took power.
The country has been in a political deadlock since the military refused to recognize the 1990 election results, saying the country first needed a new constitution. It harassed and arrested members of the pro-democracy movement.
Guidelines for the new constitution were adopted by a military-managed convention last year and a government-appointed commission is drafting the document.
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to