New era dawns for Myanmar
Junta promises smooth transition
MYANMAR’S President Thein Sein yesterday said historic polls won in a thumping landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party were the consequence of his government’s reforms and vowed a smooth transition of power.
The former junta-general, who shed his uniform to lead the country’s quasi-civilian regime five years ago, said the November 8 polls were testament to the political and economic changes that have swept the former pariah state since the end of junta rule.
“The election is the result of our reform process and as we promised, we were able to hold it very successfully,” he told a meeting of political parties in Yangon, in his first public appearance since the polls.
“We will hand this process (of reform) on to a new government,” he said, adding “don’t worry about the transition” in comments aimed at calming nerves in the country’s first attempt at a democratic-style transition for decades.
Addressing representatives of nearly 90 political parties, many of which were trounced by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, (NLD) the Myanmar leader said elections were the duty of a democratic nation.
He appeared sanguine about the resounding defeat of his armybacked Union Solidarity and Development Party, which will slip into opposition in the next parliament – due to sit from February – with some 10% of the elected seats in the national parliament, compared to the NLD’s 80%.
“The winning party is responsible for carrying out its duty and other opposition parties should provide checks and balances. That is called democracy,” he said.
Thein Sein, a slight bespectacled 70-year-old, has steered the country’s dramatic opening up after years of isolation, freeing political prisoners, unleashing a long-muzzled press and welcoming foreign investment.
Yesterday he listed tasks for the next government to tackle in the country, which still struggles with high poverty rates and poor education, infrastructure and healthcare after years of junta neglect.
These include national reconciliation, continuing efforts to end ethnic rebellions and pushing forward with development.
Both the president and army chief have agreed to talks with Suu Kyi in the coming days as the country’s political big-hitters look to negotiate a long transition which will see Thein Sein retain his position until March.
NLD spokesman Nyan Win, who attended yesterday’s Yangon meeting, reaffirmed the party’s commitment to “national reconciliation and peace”.
Suu Kyi has already travelled to the capital Naypyidaw, where today she will attend a last session of the old parliament, which will continue sitting as a caretaker legislature until January.
Yesterday she held talks with the parliament speaker Shwe Mann, a key USDP figure who was tipped as a favourite compromise candidate for president until he was ousted as head of his party by militarybacked rivals, including Thein Sein in August.
“She comforted me about the election and congratulated me on accepting the results swiftly,” he said.
Mann said a more formal meeting between the two would take place on Thursday. — AFP