Belting out the lyrics “dreams may come true” in a jaunty a capella, a former top general serenaded legislators on Friday as Myanmar’s long-dominant military elite marked their exit from Parliament wi
Belting out the lyrics “dreams may come true” in a jaunty a capella, a former top general serenaded legislators on Friday as Myanmar’s long-dominant military elite marked their exit from Parliament with song and dance.
Swept from their seats by Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, outgoing Army-backed MPs took a good-natured approach to their historic power transfer via a karaoke machine.
Parliament welcomed the handover to the Nobel laureate’s MPs by throwing a party after its closing session on Friday afternoon, complete with energetic dance routines by ethnic minority MPs and a host of voluble vocalists.
“May you be healthy/May you be strong/ May you be joyful all your life long,” crooned Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann, the junta’s former number three who has become an unlikely ally of Ms Suu Kyi’s in the legislature despite his erstwhile position as leader of the rival ruling party.
“Dreams may come true,” his English language song continued as he encouraged fellow MPs old and new to sing along to a tune he said he learned at school.
Ms Suu Kyi had a front row seat and kicked off the festivities with a speech of warm congratulations to the outgoing legislators for paving the way for her party to take power.
The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), an Army proxy stuffed with former generals that has run Myanmar since 2011, has sought to respond with grace to stunning victory for Ms Suu Kyi and her party in the November polls.
Its camaraderie is in stark contrast to the repression that characterised the junta years when Ms Suu Kyi’s party saw its 1990 election win snatched away by the generals and thousands of pro-democracy activists faced prison and bloody crackdowns.
