Democracy pledge met by scepticism

Burmese general announces he will hand over power in 2010 The head of Burma's military regime, General Than Shwe, has made his most public pledge yet that the junta will hand over power to a democratically-elected government in 2010, writes Edward Loxton for The First Post.

His promise, in a speech today at an Armed Forces Day parade in the new Burmese capital Naypyidaw, was greeted with scepticism by Burmese opposition groups, however. The exile magazine Irrawaddy pointed out that a similar promise had been made by Than Shwe's predecessor, General Saw Maung, before the 1990 general election.

Burma's opposition National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won an overwhelming victory at that election, but was barred from forming a government.

In his speech to 13,000 troops on Naypyidaw's huge parade ground, overlooked by statues of Burmese royal rulers, Than Shwe declared that the general election planned for 2010 would be "multi-party" - indicating that Suu Kyi's NLD would be welcome to take part. "State power" would be handed over after the election, he promised.

He did not elaborate further in his 15-minute speech, dwelling instead on the constitution that is designed to pave the way for the 2010 election. A national referendum is to be held on the draft constitution in May, although the Burmese people are still almost completely in the dark about its provisions.

The UN special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, claimed this week that the constitution will enshrine a leading role for the military in any future parliament. About a quarter of the parliamentary seats would be reserved for serving military personnel, while the junta would retain control of key ministries, such as defence, home affairs and border affairs, Gambari told the Straits Times of Singapore.

A campaign to persuade the electorate to reject the proposed constitution in the May referendum is gaining pace in Burma, although the main opposition party, the NLD, has yet to take a stand on the issue. Suu Kyi is under house arrest and unlikely to be able to vote.

She has anyway been barred from active participation in politics because of her marriage to a British academic, the late Michael Aris. International lawyers point out that the ban on Suu Kyi transgresses UN provisions guaranteeing political rights to a country's citizens, regardless of whether they were married to foreigners.

FIRST POSTED MARCH 27, 2008