Myanmar head pledges to amend constitution

naYpYidaw: Myanmar’s new president promised to amend the country’s armywritten constitution in an inaugural speech, challenging a charter that bans Aung San Suu Kyi from top office and gives the military major powers.

Win Myint (pic), a 66yearold former political prisoner and staunch ally of Suu Kyi, was elected president on Wednesday after his predecessor suddenly resigned.

Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate who championed Myanmar’s emer gence from junta rule with a sweeping win in the country’s 2015 election is constitutionally barred from the presidency because she was married to a foreigner.

To circumvent that snag, her party created a new position for her called state counsellor – allowing Suu Kyi to rule “above” the president.

That makes it vital for her to have a reliable proxy in office, especially as she manages the delicate powersharing arrangement with the military, which had ruled the country for almost half a century and remains enormously influential.

In his first address to parliament, the famously straighttalking Win Myint said yesterday that he would focus on the rule of law, national reconciliation and “amending the constitu tion to build a democratic federal union”.

The three issues are touchstones of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

But talk of amendments to Myanmar’s 2008 constitution is likely to rise heckles among Myanmar’s stillpowerful generals.

The army has ceded some power to the civilian administration, but retains 25% of parliamentary seats and total control of security affairs under the charter.