Myanmar's ruling party chief sees need for reform
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Yangon - Myanmar's ruling political party needs reform, itssecretary-general acknowledged in an interview published Sunday.
"We need reform." Htay Oo, chief of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), told the weekly Myanmar Times.
"In my opinion, it is not the policy (that needs change) but our style of working and tactics," he said.
The USDP, which is packed with former military officers and has close links to the military regime that ruled during 1988-2010, was trounced by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi in an April by-election.
The NLD won 43 of 45 contested seats, with the USDP winning only one seat and a smaller party picking up the other.
The party has backed the political and economic reforms initiated by President Thein Sein, a former army general, that have led to the lifting of sanctions on the once-pariah state.
"We have to try to ensure that the people understand us and our pragmatic policies," Htay Oo said. "Our party is also weak in its relations with the media. We need to fix that." The party won the November 2010 general election by a landslide, largely because the NLD had boycotted the polls that it considered unfair.
The next general election is schedule for 2015.//DPA
