Military lawmakers fail to attend NLD's dinner

 

 

They didn’t attend the meeting as the invitation arrived too late and they also had to attend a farewell party.

NLD invited the military lawmakers to meet at Nay Pyi Taw Sipin Guesthouse on the evening of Nov 27 and the party delivered invitation letters to them on the afternoon of Nov 26. 

 "We invited military MPs to a dinner to exchange talks informally. Today they sent back a reply letter saying they couldn’t attend the meeting as they have a farewell party," said a MP for NLD.

"We have a farewell party for officers who are about to be transferred after their promotion. We replied to them that we'll not able to attend the dinner. If they had invited us in advance, we can arrange a date when we're free. They invited us cordially without any purpose. It would be OK if we're informed in advance before the invitation," said a military MP.

"We invited them warmly, just a friendly invitation. We'll be glad if they come. We also welcome their invitation," said Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition party, who met local reporters at the parliament in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday.

She assured that her party will not be hesitant to invite them again, adding that NLD will seek a political dialogue with the military for constitutional amendments.

Responding to a question raised by a reporter about how NLD will continue its confrontation with the military army over the constitutional amendment, she said, "The term "confrontation" is seemed a bit contrary to democratic principles. We should not confront with others who disagreed with us. We should exchange talks to deal with our disagreements.

“I have said frequently, democracy is not only a political system but also a culture. A basic principle of a culture is dialogue. We should give and take by means of negotiations. It's not in accordance with basic democratic principles that we confront with each other because we have different views. Democracy allows people to have different views.’’

"Voting has been used as a feature of democracy, by which voters make a choice between options. It’s the rights of the military MPs to express opposition to amendment of Section 436 and 59 (f). There are MPs from some parties who expressed opposition to amend Section 59 (f). We have people with different views. We should accept it. It's a feature of a society. We should not worry too much about it as we are keen to find a solution," she added

Currently military lawmakers expressed strong opposition to amend Section 436 and 59 (f) during parliamentary sessions.