In Myanmar, the devil really is in the detail.
Close scrutineers of the country’s new constitution, due to be put to a referendum next month, are wondering whether the omission of four key words is just a typographical error or a dastardly trick by the military junta to keep power forever.
In a widely published outline of the charter, Myanmar’s voters were led to believe that changing the constitution would need approval from 75 percent of parliament and then a simple majority — “more than half of all eligible voters” — in a referendum.
But when the document leaked out a week ago, many were surprised to see constitutional tweaks would need approval from “all eligible voters,” a proviso that in reality makes amendments impossible in the country of 53 million people.
Whether the omission of “more than half of” is deliberate or accidental is unclear, especially since Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, in a rare news conference last month, said the constitution would be open to gradual improvement after next month’s referendum.
Some junta opponents who were ready to swallow the army-drafted charter, if only because it could be changed later, were alarmed by the omission and have decided to vote “no” in the plebiscite.
“We were surprised to see the discrepancy,” said a retired lawyer, who did not wish to be named. “All my friends who had said having a constitution would be better than having no constitution have changed their minds.”
Another sentence that appears to have been slipped in at the last minute is an amnesty clause protecting any members of the State Peace and Development Council, as the junta calls itself, from future legal action.
Myanmar’s Prime Minister General Thein Sein said next month’s referendum, which gives sweeping powers to the armed forces, was not designed to benefit the military, state media said yesterday.
“The referendum is not for one person, the Tatmadaw [the military], one party and one association, but for seeking unanimous approval for a constitution,” he said.
He told the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper the proposed basic law “is instrumental for building a new democratic nation that people long for.”
“The emergence of the state constitution is the duty of all citizens of Myanmar,” he said.
Malaysia yesterday installed a motorcycle-riding billionaire sultan as its new king in lavish ceremonies for a post seen as a ballast in times of political crises. The coronation ceremony for Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim, 65, at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur followed his oath-taking in January as the country’s 17th monarch. Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, with a unique arrangement that sees the throne change hands every five years between the rulers of nine Malaysian states headed by centuries-old Islamic royalty. While chiefly ceremonial, the position of king has in the past few years played an increasingly important role. Royal intervention was
X-37B COMPARISON: China’s spaceplane is most likely testing technology, much like US’ vehicle, said Victoria Samson, an official at the Secure World Foundation China’s shadowy, uncrewed reusable spacecraft, which launches atop a rocket booster and lands at a secretive military airfield, is most likely testing technology, but could also be used for manipulating or retrieving satellites, experts said. The spacecraft, on its third mission, was last month observed releasing an object, moving several kilometers away and then maneuvering back to within a few hundred meters of it. “It’s obvious that it has a military application, including, for example, closely inspecting objects of the enemy or disabling them, but it also has non-military applications,” said Marco Langbroek, a lecturer in optical space situational awareness at Delft
The Philippine Air Force must ramp up pilot training if it is to buy 20 or more multirole fighter jets as it modernizes and expands joint operations with its navy, a commander said yesterday. A day earlier US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that the US “will do what is necessary” to see that the Philippines is able to resupply a ship on the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) that Manila uses to reinforce its claims to the atoll. Sullivan said the US would prefer that the Philippines conducts the resupplies of the small crew on the warship Sierra Madre,
AIRLINES RECOVERING: Two-thirds of the flights canceled on Saturday due to the faulty CrowdStrike update that hit 8.5 million devices worldwide occurred in the US As the world continues to recover from massive business and travel disruptions caused by a faulty software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, malicious actors are trying to exploit the situation for their own gain. Government cybersecurity agencies across the globe and CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz are warning businesses and individuals around the world about new phishing schemes that involve malicious actors posing as CrowdStrike employees or other tech specialists offering to assist those recovering from the outage. “We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,” Kurtz said in a statement. “I encourage everyone to remain vigilant