Thursday, September 27, 2012

Who mourns for the Constitutional Tribunal? (Myanmar/Burma)

Myanmar Times published an interesting collection of interviews with Hluttaw MPs. Several MPs expressed regret that the debate over "union-level organizations" led to impeachment. Here are a few highlights:
“... The impeachment of the Constitutional Tribunal was carried out according to the law, even if it was not a great development for the hluttaw. It was done according to parliamentary procedures but all MPs felt sorry about the result,” said U Aye Mauk, the Pyithu Hluttaw representative for Ma-laing and a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
... 
But U Win Htein, the NLD representative for Meiktila, said he was only 50 percent satisfied with the parliament’s activities over the past three months, as he had wanted the Constitutional Tribunal dispute to be resolved through dialogue rather than impeachment. The dispute, which saw hluttaw representatives remove the tribunal’s nine members on September 6, was widely interpreted as the parliament asserting its independence from the government. 
“We followed the law in the case of the tribunal but I think it was more appropriate to resolve it with dignity, as our leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, had recommended. I am not happy that we argued on whether [committees] are union-level bodies or not,” U Win Htein told The Myanmar Times.
... 
[U Khat Htein Nan, the Amyotha Hluttaw representative for Kachin State’s constituency 1 said] “But the [impeachment of the Constitutional Tribunal] was a very wearisome issue and I felt sorry about it because it took up a large amount of our time.” 
U Khine Maung Yee, the National Democratic Force Pyithu Hluttaw representative for Ahlone, agreed the tribunal issue had dominated the hluttaw’s activities. 
“We all had to deal with it even though we felt sorry and had to take a long time. Eventually we resolved it, even if the result was not the one we wanted,” U Khine Maung Yee said.
It's worth reading the whole article, especially to hear how USDP MPs feel about their NLD colleagues.

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