Hluttaw to form constitutional review committee this month

Hluttaw to form constitutional review committee this month

By Win Ko Ko Latt   |   Monday, 15 July 2013

The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw will form a 105-member committee – including military MPs – to review the constitution and recommend amendment, representatives said last week.

The Union Solidarity and Development Party will have just under half of all seats on the committee, with 52 members. The National League for Democracy will have seven representatives, while the Shan Nationalities Development Party will have four members. Altogether 18 parties will have at least one representative.

"I am sure the committee [to review the constitution] will be formed this month," said the Pyithu Hluttaw representative for Thingangyun, U Thein Nyunt.

Thura U Aung Ko, a Pyithu Hluttaw representative from the USDP, declined to comment on how his party would approach the constitutional review process.

NLD representative U Aung Kyi Nyunt, who has been nominated to the committee, said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would not take part.

"The quality of members is more important than the quantity I think. It's important that the committee works effectively," he said.

He said the party would push for changes to the rules for who can be president, which presently bar the NLD leader. However, he said there were "much more important changes" to consider, such as federalism.

"I can't predict how much we'll be able to amend the constitution but we will try our best. It was one of our main objectives when we competed in the 2012 by-elections," he said.

However, not all MPs were optimistic about the review process.

"Our party got two seats on the committee but I do not want to accept the positions because it looks like we are just creating a small parliament inside a larger one," said U Aye Maung, chairman of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party.

U Ye Tun from the SNDP said he would have preferred to see each party get one representative and for the committee to include experts from outside the hluttaw.

He said his party would seek to give more rights to states and regions.

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/07/15/hluttaw-to-form-constitutional-review-committee-this-month/