Suu Kyi in war of words over charter amendment
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Aung San Suu Kyi, chairperson of the National League for Democracy (NLD), remained confident that the public will would pave the way for political change in Myanmar.
Suu Kyi told reporters before attending the Lower House session on Friday that the people’s signatures supporting amendment of Section 436 of the 2008 Constitution are meant for parliament to uphold their aspirations.
On the previous day, Union Parliament Speaker Thura Shwe Mann had said that the NLD-led campaign for charter change would not impact on the work of the parliamentary committee in charge of amending the charter.
“The National League for Democracy is campaigning of its own accord and with its own ideas. So, its activities will not have much influence on the committee,” said Shwe Mann.
He said the committee was formed based on a report compiled by parliament’s constitutional review committee. Those committees have policies. Constitutional amendments are possible if the process is in line with those policies, he said.
In rebutting Shwe Mann, the NLD leader said the charter change campaign is not meant for the Constitutional Review Commission but for the entire parliament.
She said the people’s aspirations should impact on the legislative work and that the government was obligated, in turn, to implement the mutual aspirations of the people and the legislature.
“As per the last count, signatures collected numbered more than 3 million, and the campaign has not concluded yet. We do not make careless remarks without waiting for the final outcome,” she said.
The NLD and the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society have jointly launched the signature campaign across the country to seek charter change.
More than 3 million people have already signed supporting amendment of the military-drafted constitution. The campaign runs from May 27 to July 19.
Suu Kyi had said at an earlier public rally supporting the constitutional amendment that the people should keep an eye on those claiming to be walking on the road to democracy whether they were true or not.
She also urged the Myanmar youth to get involved in charting the future.
“I have often said the youth are the future of our country,” she said at the nationwide conference on youths organised by the NLD in Yangon on Saturday.
“When talking about this, some might have forgotten one thing that is more important than the future. That is the present time. To have a good future, we need to do the right thing at present. Our youth need to think about what they should do now for the sake of our future.”
The meeting of about 150 party members aged 16-35 was the first of its kind. According to Maung Maung Oo, one of the organisers, the aim was “to promote a new generation of leaders”.
“Not only our party, but the whole country faces a generation gap,” he told AFP.
Young activists were often at the vanguard of Myanmar’s decades-old resistance to military rule, which ended in 2011 with the creation of a nominally civilian government.
Suu Kyi urged all young people to cultivate a sense of duty and responsibility. In dispensing duty, the young people must embrace correct attitude on building a good and bright future, she said.
“Our country has just emerged from decades of dictatorship. There is little sense of responsibility. The reason is that a dictator does not need to take responsibility. Anyone will shun responsibility if they can rule from the position of power. Therefore, very few are aware of their accountability,” she said.
She urged young people to be imbued with a sense of duty if they want to enshrine democracy and empower the people.
