Myanmar’s Suu Kyi meets Parliament boss ahead of key house session

Myanmar’s President Thein Sein yesterday said historic polls won in a thumping landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party were the effect of his government’s reforms, and vowed a smooth transition of power.

“We trust that the newly elected government will improve the democratic governance of the country and will promote a more inclusive society by addressing the increase in religious extremism and radical room and its impact on certain minorities and ethnic groups, in particular Muslim citizens, and specifically the Rohingya”, European parliament member Ana Gomes said last week.

“The election result represents the people’s retribution against the military, which kept them under its boots for decades”, said Aung Din, a former political prisoner and prominent journalist.

Of course the generals should step aside, in light of the sweeping victory of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy (NLD).

“We have held a national reconciliation policy since our party founded – we hold this policy today; we will hold this policy for the future process”.

Both the president and army chief have agreed to talks with Suu Kyi in the coming days as the country’s political big-hitters look to negotiate a long transition which will see Thein Sein retain his position until March. “That is called democracy”, Thein Sein said. “Can she remain the country’s moral authority now that she has to make politics?”

Win Htein, of the NLD, said the party would face much more trouble with negotiations than the ruling USDP, which is led by former military men. Learning from the military’s assault on democracy and brazen decision to reject the internationally recognised general elections in Myanmar 25 years ago, Indonesia should be more proactive than it has been in the past as a friend of Myanmar.

Suu Kyi has said she will protect Muslims in the state, despite appearing to bow to growing Buddhist nationalism by fielding no candidates from the minority.

And the same document also bars Ms Suu Kyi from being nominated for president by her party in the new parliament because her two sons are British, as was her late husband.

Feted by many in the West for her role as champion of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement during long years of military rule, she has been criticized overseas, and by a few in Myanmar, for saying little about the abuses faced by the group.

Does the NLD now control Myanmar?

A potential problem for an NLD government is that the new legislative session is expected to pass a new budget, which may allocate funds in ways it may not favor, such as to defense at the expense of health or education.

Like the military, the NLD is dominated by the Bamar, an ethnic-majority population that lives in the country’s central lowlands.