Myanmar Army resists quick change to statute

Less than a week after a third transition meeting between Myanmar’s commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the powerful Army Chief has pushed back against any quick changes to the Constitution.

The 2008 document, which bars Ms Suu Kyi from becoming President even after her National League for Democracy (NLD) swept a historic election in 2015, has been a bone of contention between her party and the military. Ms Suu Kyi has vowed to disregard it and lead the country from “above the President”.

Min Aung Hlaing said that the junta-drafted Constitution should be amended “at an appropriate time” in accordance with constitutional provisions. Some senior NLD members and pundits had speculated that the articles banning Ms Suu Kyi from becoming President could be temporarily suspended as part of a power-sharing deal between the armed forces and the NLD.

“Since Myanmar has been undergoing democratisation only for five years, necessary provisions should be amended at an appropriate time in accordance with the chapter XII of the Constitution,” the military-run Myawady daily reported the Army Chief as saying at a meeting with military officers on Monday.

Talks between the two sides over a protracted political transition drag on amid reports that the military chief has secured a five-year extension.

The military stepped back from direct rule of Myanmar in 2011 after nearly five decades in power.

Under the semi-civilian government that took its place, the military still holds considerable political power and Ms Suu Kyi will need to forge a relationship with the armed forces to govern effectively.