For the sake of the 51 million people

[Lite Beer]

For the sake of the 51 million people
Nay Htun Naing

RANGOON: -- The effort towards constitutional amendment is still unsuccessful in the Parliament.

The people understand that the 2008 Constitution cannot be modified as easily as expected. But some are hopeful that there might be a chance to escape from the existing political dilemma.

The current state of charter change is not in the way the people want it to be. It is just an obligatory effort of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) to prove that they have tried to amend it; just an insignificant part of it has been modified.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) wants the charter to be amended. But it does not appreciate the methods of the USDP.

Meanwhile the military representatives, who form the 25 per cent of the seats in the parliament, confirmed that they did not want to change the constitution. Its stance on the constitution is similar to that of the USDP.

There was a chance to escape from the political dilemma through the charter change. USDP created the opportunity. The NLD tried to go with the flow, but the military personnel blew the chance.

Refusal of Section 261 and its ill consequences

Section 20 (f) of the 2008 Constitution rules that the Defence Services is mainly responsible for safeguarding the Constitution.

Section 20 (e) mentions the important point: "The Defence Services is mainly responsible for safeguarding the non-disintegration of the Union, the non-disintegration of National solidarity and the perpetuation of sovereignty".

It is acceptable that the military does not want to alter the sections 59 (f), 60 ©, 418 (, 436 (a), and 436 (.

But it becomes problematic when it again denies modifying the provisions of Section 436 (.

The military wants the Section 261, which concerns with the ethnic groups, to remain unchanged.

The provisions of Section 261 are not similar to sections 59 (f), 60 ©, and 436 (a). There could be accusations that the efforts to change those sections are meant for the advantage of a particular individual or organisation.

But Section 261 is important not for certain groups but for all the ethnic nationals. It is also crucial for the federal union which Myanmar tries to attain in future.

If such sections remained unchanged, there would not be a federal union, just a central control ruled by the majority Burmese.

On the other hand, the peace process the President Thein Sein has strived for will be undone if Section 261 remains unchanged. The civil war may pay a comeback, and one of the duties of the defence services will fail.

Read More: http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/opinion/sake-51-million-people