Suu Kyi attacks ruling party for not being sincere about reforms
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By failing to support even "inadequate" constitutional amendments, the Union Solidarity and Development Party has proved that it does not want reform, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told reporters Friday.
“What the ruling party proposed for charter change isn’t adequate. It doesn’t even want to support an ‘inadequate” amendment. This means it wants no change. The representatives who didn’t support it, want no change at all. These sections can’t be changed one by one. It’s not adequate to just remove the son-in-law and daughter-in-law clause from Section 59(f) of the Constitution. They don’t even want such minor changes,” Suu Kyi said.
On Wednesday, the bill to amend Section 436 was voted down. The section stipulates that any change to the junta-era Constitution must win the endorsement of at least 75 per cent of MPs. Military officers now hold 20 per cent of the Parliament seats. Without amending Section 436, there is no possibility of there being any changes to Section 59(f), which blocks Suu Kyi from becoming president.
Section 59(f) bars any individual with a foreign spouse or children from becoming head of state.
Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy is expected to win landslide victory in the upcoming election. The Nobel laureate, who turns 70 this year, said she had no hopes of being able to run for the presidency as Section 59(f) has not been amended.
“[Commerce Minister] MP U Win Myint talked about supporting the change, but he said he did not agree with the way it was being changed. I think you would know why our MPs disagreed with the discussion.”
She said the result was expected, and now people knew exactly who supported reform.
“I don’t see us as having lost out on constitutional amendments. We expected this result and the people too expected this. The constitutional amendments must be done in a practical manner. The 70-per-cent vote isn’t possible yet,” Suu Kyi said.
“There were talk that the Constitution was created with 90-per-cent support. Please keep an eye on the progress of constitutional amendments – people need to know what is happening and what the MPs say.”
