Monday as lawmakers assembled in secrecy for their first legislative
session since the late 1980s following a widely panned election.
No foreign media representatives were allowed to witness the event or
even take photographs of the new parliament building where elected and
designated lawmakers convened in the military regime's purpose-built
capital, Naypyidaw.
"Parliament started at 8:55 (am, 0225 GMT). All members attended," a
Myanmar official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The timing -- almost certainly a product of the regime's penchant for
astrology -- was just one aspect of this new parliament peculiar to a
nation that has withered under the iron grip of military rule since
1962.
After a rare election in November, marred by the absence of democracy
icon Aung San Suu Kyi and claims of cheating and intimidation, the
junta was set to easily dominate Myanmar's first parliamentary session
in two decades.
The formation of the national parliament in Naypyidaw and 14 regional
assemblies takes the country towards the final stage of the junta's
so-called "roadmap" to a "disciplined democracy", conceived in 2003.
But a quarter of the seats were kept aside for the military even
before the vote, and the army-backed Union Solidarity and Development
Party claimed an overwhelming victory, winning 882 out of 1,154 seats.
While the regime may have been planning for years, the lawmakers
themselves were in the dark about their roles in the parliament, where
proceedings may remain secret and rules ban recording devices,
computers and mobile phones.
"No one really knows how the parliaments will be organised. We will
know when we get there," said Soe Win, a National Democratic Force
(NDF) legislator.
"My feeling is that we are moving one step forward."
Suu Kyi, released from house arrest a few days after the polls, was
less optimistic in a Financial Times interview published this weekend,
downplaying the impact of political changes.
"I don't think the elections mean there is going to be any kind of
real change in the political process," she was quoted as saying. "I
was released because my term was up. There is nothing strange about
it."
The crucial question of who will be the country's next president has
yet to be discussed openly, although Thura Shwe Mann, the former army
number three, has recently been linked with the top spot.
Senior General Than Shwe, who has dominated the country since taking
power in 1992, is now 77 but analysts say the strongman is reluctant
to relinquish his hold completely.
Once appointed, the president will select a government, and can be
confident of little resistance from a parliament dominated by the
military and its cronies.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) will not have a voice
after it was disbanded for opting to boycott the election, while the
two main opposition parties that decided to participate and won seats
are political minnows.
The NDF, which split from the NLD in order to contest the vote, will
take 16 seats in national and regional legislatures and the Democratic
Party (Myanmar) has just three.
Parties from the country's diverse ethnic minority regions have a
little more clout than the democracy parties and want to speak up for
their areas, which many feel have long been neglected.
