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As Myanmar new parliament opens, junta's shadow looms large
Reuters - January 31, 2011
Aung Hla Tun, Naypyitaw, Myanmar – An elected parliament convened in Myanmar on Monday for the first time in half a century, but inspired scant popular enthusiasm due to the widespread conviction it is just a smokescreen for continued military rule.
More than 600 lawmakers filled two new "Hluttaws," or legislative chambers, ahead of the opening session. They are tasked with choosing Myanmar's first civilian president since a 1962 coup ushered in 49 unbroken years of military dictatorship.
The ruling junta has hailed the legislature as a new dawn of democracy but critics dismiss it as a charade that leaves the same authoritarian generals in control. The new government is just as likely to clamp down on dissent as the old one.
Pairs of armed police patrolled roads leading to the parliament in Naypyitaw, the sprawling capital built from scratch just four years ago, where the military rulers of the former Burma have isolated themselves some 320 km (200 miles) from the largest city and former capital, Yangon.
Busloads of lawmakers filed into the parliamentary complex, along with luxury cars carrying businessmen MPs with links to the junta. But there was barely a ripple of interest among ordinary Burmese, most of whom see the changes as purely cosmetic.
"We have no idea and no time to take the trouble to think about these useless things," said a 38-year-old worker in Naypyitaw when asked for his views on parliament.
Following a November 7 election that was sharply criticized at home and abroad for irregularities, both the lower and upper houses will be dominated by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a proxy for the military government.
"We can't expect much. There's no real opposition," said Zaw Nay Aung, a Burmese exile at the London-based think tank and advocacy group Burma Independence Advocates.
The army also has a reserved quota of a quarter of the seats in both chambers, as well as in regional state parliaments. That leaves parliament dominated by serving or retired soldiers loyal to junta supremo Than Shwe.
We don't care who becomes president
The National Democratic Force, the biggest of the pro-democracy parties, won just 12 of the 664 seats. Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy boycotted the election after winning the previous 1990 poll by a landslide, a result the military ignored.
Despite being freed from house arrest after the election, Suu Kyi and her now-defunct party yield no influence over parliament, though she remains immensely popular.
Most people interviewed by Reuters said they remained far more concerned with the struggles of day-to-day life in a country with woeful public services, frequent power outages and chronic economic mismanagement. At least 32 percent of Myanmar's estimated 50 million people live below the poverty line.
"We don't care who becomes president as long as he can create better living conditions for us," said the worker, who would only speak candidly on the condition that his name was not reported. "Things could not be worse right now and prices keep rising all the time."
Some lawmakers said they expected house speakers to be chosen on Monday, followed on Tuesday by the nomination of three presidential candidates, which three committees will vote on.
No one has publicly expressed interest in becoming head of state and analysts believe the president, two vice presidents and ministers have already been decided by the junta.
Many believe the 78-year-old Than Shwe is too paranoid to end his 18-year reign and will quietly retire from the military in coming days so he is eligible to take the all-powerful presidency himself, with his most trusted aides as armed forces chief, vice presidents and house speakers.
Others, however, believe the strongman may have reserved the top positions for his proteges and confidantes, such as premier Thein Sein and junta number three Thura Shwe Mann, and plans to step aside and pull the strings from behind the scenes.
[Writing and additional reporting by Martin Petty; Editing by Jason Szep and Andrew Marshall.]
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