1 - Introduction: Living with Myanmar

Summary

When Myanmar's first democratically elected officials took their place in the Pyithu (lower) and Amyotha (upper) houses of Parliament in February 2016 it heralded in a new era – one of hope and optimism – for the greater part of Myanmar's population. The National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi held an 86 per cent majority of elected seats. Clad in orange as a mark of their difference from the military's light green, a collective sigh of relief was felt across the country, as the new members of parliament took their seats. After half a century of military rule, the process of installing the new government was by all accounts a triumph for democracy. Fears that the military, who by constitutional rule are reserved 25 per cent of seats in both the lower and upper houses, would agitate and refuse to hand over power to the NLD did not eventuate. While the 2008 Constitution, written by the former military junta, barred Aung San Suu Kyi from taking the position of president, the NLD-led parliament created the new role of State Counselor for her – a role effectively seen by all as the head of state, “above the president” (BBC 2016).

Significant gains in reforming Myanmar had already been made during the term of the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which formed a majority government after the flawed general elections of November 2010. While there remain many questions over the state of Myanmar's “transition”, it marked the starting point for the country's move away from military rule toward a halting process of democratisation (Kyaw Yin Hlaing 2012; Cheesman et al. 2014; Crouch 2017a; Jones 2014). President Thein Sein, a former military general, led these changes, praised as a “champion of democracy” (Hunter 2014). And yet, built on the 2003 commitment to a roadmap to a “discipline flourishing democracy”, efforts to reverse a legacy of isolation also cemented the Tatmadaw's power in the nation's “democratic” future under the guise of liberalisation (Egreteau 2016; Jones 2018; Brooten et al. 2019).

One of the key election promises of the NLD government in 2015 was the enactment of constitutional reform to limit the role of the military in national affairs. Alongside their control of security-related cabinet portfolios, important sections of the constitution entrench the Tatmadaw's influence over the parliament and legislative affairs, marginalising civilian rule (Crouch 2019a).