'Ruling MPs, not the opposition', spotlighting Myanmar govt failings
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Myanmar's ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), not the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), is holding the Thein Sein administration to account, claim MPs from the ruling party.
“There is no democratic country that does not have an opposition party,” said USDP MP Tin Maung Oo. “The chief duty of the opposition is to encourage the government to provide a better administration, but the opposition party does not do that. Only we, the ruling party, are doing this. There may be weaknesses everywhere. Pointing out weaknesses is a good sign for the democratic process and it is happening across the democratic world.”
“Parliament’s role is to monitor the three main pillars of government,” said Upper House MP Hla Swe of the ruling party. “Sometimes we see conflicts and friction. These adverse effects have led to the toppling of the Constitutional Tribunal during the current presidential term. The opposition entered parliament in 2012, but we haven’t seen the opposition point out weaknesses in the administration. If the opposition is able to push the government, reforms can go ahead. Aung San Suu Kyi can do this. Regarding the rule of law, she can call and ask concerned
ministers. She is an influential parliamentarian.”
An MP, who asked not to be named, said: “The relations between the ruling party and the opposition are tense. Both parties should relax this tension beyond 2015 to develop a constructive situation. The whole world would like to see this.”
“The ruling party runs parliament and government,” said Aye Maung of the Rakhine National Party. “Parliament is organised by former ministers. Parliament’s role is to point out the government’s weaknesses and we tried to do that until 2013, but most of our proposals were rejected by the ruling USDP MPs. Later we withdrew. The ruling party tried to design parliament to silence criticism and play a game,” he said.
“The opposition’s proposals were rejected. Therefore, the NLD stopped submitting proposals. We have now accepted that the ruling party has become the opposition rather than other parties. The parliament mainly supported the proposals submitted by the ruling party, but those by other parties were rejected,” he added.
