Suu Kyi lays down law on party discipline to new MPs
YANGON: Aung San Suu Kyi has warned newly minted MPs she will not tolerate poor discipline or wrongdoing, party members said yesterday, as Myanmar’s democracy champion began marshalling her opposition for government amid skyhigh expectations.
Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party took nearly 80% of contested seats in the Nov 8 election, promising change after decades of corrosive and corrupt army control of the country.
But she cannot be president under the junta-scripted constitution.
Instead the party leader has vowed to rule from “above the president” — via a proxy who will be selected by the NLD-dominated legislature in the new year.
Observers say the NLD, a party of opposition for 25 years, will struggle to match the soaring hopes of a long-suffering people who crave remedies to the nation’s deep economic and social problems.
New MPs will also have to learn the nuts and bolts of power and policy making as well as deliver on the party’s change narrative.
NLD lawmakers said Ms Suu Kyi used a party meeting yesterday to call for unity and warn newcomers to office that poor discipline or conduct will be punished.
“She doesn’t want anyone to build a small building inside the big one,” said Thet Thet Khine, an elected NLD MP in Yangon and a prominent party figure.
“Any MP who wants to build his or her personal group inside the NLD ‘building’ will not be accepted,” she said.
Another new lawmaker said Mrs Suu Kyi cautioned the party against “betraying the people” who overwhelmingly shunned the army-backed ruling party to give the NLD control of both parliamentary houses.
“She said she will not tolerate any breach of party regulations,” Tun Myint, an MP from Bahan township in Yangon, said. He said NLD MPs also face a 25% salary cut as a gesture to the nation’s poor population.