THE ROW BETWEEN THE MILITARY AND NLD: Casting aspersions or blocking constitutional amendment?
Within just a little more than two months, the Tatmadaw or the Military has
complained twice in a row of the National League for Democracy's (NLD) top
functionaries in what amount to sensitivity over casting aspersions on it's
political image and posture, which have led to bad press coverage, including
the degradation of its self-appointed, sole protector of national sovereignty
and national unity bastion role.
In May, the NLD Central Executive Committee's secretary, Win Htein was accused of tarnishing the image and reputation of the Tatmadaw during his meeting with the reporters.
According to Myanmar Times, on May 3, a Facebook account named “NLD Central
News” that went online in April 29, posted on its page that President U Htin
Kyaw would resign after State Counselor and Foreign Minister Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi returns from her visit to Europe.
On May 4, Win Htein told reporters that some individuals or
organizations were targeting the party by spreading fake news concerning the
actions of certain party officials and those in authority.
The Military statement, quoting Win Htein
answering a reporter during the May 4 briefing said, “It is difficult to tell
who the suspects are because we are hearing a lot of things on the matter. Was
it the USDP [Union Solidarity and Development Party]? Was it done by some
Tatmadaw organizations? Did some IT experts who don’t like us do it? It is hard
to say.”
However, Win Htein responded to the Tatmadaw's accusation with humor saying that
he felt like being pelted with a flower.
“They themselves said it. It wasn’t even in my
words. I just answered the question when asked who I thought it was that was
distributing fake news. I answered that it could be this or that person. I did
not accuse anyone directly. Their response has no effect on me, it feels like
they are throwing flowers at me,” he told the reporters at the Sibin guest
house in Nay Pyi Taw after the CEC meeting on May 6, according to the Myanmar
Times.
At a workshop funded by USAID – to help integrate the former political
prisoners back into the society - held on July 9 in Yangon, Phyo Min Thein, Yangon
Chief Minister, warned participants that the country is still
moving toward becoming a full-fledged democracy.
“There are no civil-military relations in the
democratic era. The military should be under civil administrative rule and the
commander-in-chief position is the same as a director-general in accordance with
protocol. But we are now dealing with the [commander-in-chief] as head of
state. This is not democracy,” Phyo Min Thein said.
Tatmadaw's response
On May 11 and 12, the Tatmadaw’s press team
released statements that said Phyo Min Thein’s comment had hurt relations
between the government and the Military.
Myanmar Times reported: “U Phyo Min Thein’s reckless and confrontational
comment on the Tatmadaw and its commander-in-chief is damaging the government’s
goal of national reconciliation and the process of building a long-term
relationship between the government and Tatmadaw, and the people and Tatmadaw.
Therefore, the Yangon chief minister is deemed a person creating obstacles,”
quoting the statement.
Apart from that, the statement said that Phyo
Min Thein is not suitable for “constructive and long-term” relations and the
Tatmadaw wants the government to take action against him, adding that his “no civil-military relations in a
democracy’”clearly showed his observation weakness, regarding the important
role of the Tatmadaw in nation-building, and
harboring confrontational nature.
To drive home its message, the statement
stressed: “U Phyo Min Thein’s comments on the commander-in-chief who is on an
overseas trip, is an attempt to offend the armed forces and its chief and
damages the Tatmadaw chief and the Tatmadaw’s images.”
The statement also cited the government
announcement of June 3, 2016, which ranked the commander-in-chief eighth in
order of precedence (protocol) from 38 people on the list of state protocol.
Accordingly, state and regional ministers are ranked at 36.
Backing and reprimanding of NLD leadership
According to July 12 video report of
DVB, Nyan Win who is on the party’s central executive committee (CEC),
defended Phyo Min Thein , saying there is no reason to take action against him if the Tatmadaw accepts the truth.
He made his point by saying: “It is true that the commander-in-chief is
the head of governmental organization and directors-general are heads of their
civilian organizations as well, so they are on the same level.”
But added: “The fact that the commander-in-chief is more powerful due
the political configuration (the military-drawn 2008 constitution) has nothing
to do with it and according to the said (theoretical) thinking, they are the
same level.”
He further stressed: “According to the (2008) constitution,
commander-in-chief is a lot more higher. But our party has been continuously
saying that this is absolutely wrong from the beginning. So we cannot give in
(or change) our stand, just because it is included in the constitution. Things
that are included in the constitution are not all correct and have lots of
mistakes; in all 168 points (clauses) have to be corrected.”
However, on July 13, the NLD leadership warned Phyo Min Thein for his
statement and the on July 14, the following day, issued an internal memo which
said: “The party’s CEC has warned U Phyo Min Thein for what he said at a
workshop held in collaboration with USAID . . . CSOs and Media in Yangon on
July 9,” according to the report of The Irrawaddy, which claimed to have seen
the memo, on July 16.
In addition, on July 16, Ministry of Defense Office issued a statement
that Phyo Min Thein's letter of apology addressed to the commander-in-chief on
July 13 has been received. But nothing was mentioned on whether the issue has
been resolved from the Military's point of view.
Earlier on July 13, government spokesperson Zaw Htay said that the
Yangon Chief Minister’s remarks on the army
chief’s position do not reflect the government’s stance and had “caused misunderstandings between the
government and the military.”
According to The Irrawaddy, Zaw Htay said: “Those comments caused
misunderstandings between the government and the military. As the chief minister is responsible [for what
he said], we have instructed him to do what he
needs to do.”
When pressed for further detail, the spokesperson said: “We can
only share that so far.”
Perspective and outlook
The row between the Tatmadaw and Phyo Min Thein is an existing latent
conflict caused by the hybrid civilian-military political system which has been
there from the beginning and is programmed to come out in the open every now
and then, from time to time.
While the Suu Kyi-led NLD is hoping that in due course the Military could
be wooed or would change its mind and become democratic, the Military in turn
is driving to convince the NLD to accept the quasi-civilian unitary system rule
as a model where it could maintain its political edge for as long as it is
needed.
The military knows what it wants and what to do, but the NLD doesn't
seem to have any strategy on how to achieve its goal of fully-fledged democracy
except to appease the military so that it is not to upset and resort to total
control of the polity through emergency rule or coup d'etat.
The recent protest on Yangon chief minister Phyo Min Thein by the Military for casting aspersion on its commander-in-chief is actually just part of the problematic relationship which stems from civilian-military hybrid government system that has plagued the country from the outset.
But if one looks at the situation deeper the two episodes are linked to the bigger picture of constitutional amendment.
It is clear that in a democratic form of governance the military has to
take orders from the elected government.
The Aung San Suu Kyi headed NLD regime comes into being through the popularly elected votes, with the slogan of “time to change”, albeit for only 75% of seats, as the 25% is reserved for the appointed Military's MPs according to the military-drafted constitution.
Under such circumstances, the NLD government functions as a coalition partner of the Tatmadaw although there is no existence of clear and transparent coalition contract like it supposed to be in developed democratic countries. But, of course, no one knows for sure if there are unwritten verbal understanding between the Military and Suu Kyi, as she has met General Than Shwe, prior to the take over of the government from its predecessor regime, who is considered to be still influential on the Military establishment and was the one that installed the present commander-in-chief Min Aung Hliang.
But regardless of such speculation the reality in actual political arena is that the two coalition partners are locked in an unspoken confrontation to further their ambitions. While the NLD is tasked with having to deliver the aspirations of the electorate which is the installation of fully-fledged civilian government, the Military is determined to protect and nurture it political edge for the benefit of its organization, if not just for its group survival made up of the military top brass.
To this end, the military has been making use of a variety of coordinated approaches and tactical moves to maintain its political supremacy . Such as:
·
Making use of the NLD's
legitimacy to open up sanctions, including the normalization of military
relationship with the West and beyond;
·
Maintaining its veto
power on constitutional amendment and political edge through the
military-drafted constitution – as it is vested with power to run the most
important ministries of home, defense and border affairs, including 25%
appointed MP seats in all levels of the parliaments;
·
Employing Unlawful
Association Act Article 17(1) and Telecommunication Law Section 66(d) to quell resistance in ethnic
states and general control for all activities countrywide that it considers to
be against its interest;
·
Keeping the war flames on
by excluding some of the Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs), conducting
offensives in ethnic areas and rejecting all-inclusiveness participation in the
peace process;
·
Giving lip service to
federalism while openly vowing to protect the military-drafted constitution,
which in no way could be argued as being a federal constitution, to its utmost, including blocking the
amendment of the constitution that would weaken its control in general; and
·
Through its refined push
and pull maneuver has managed to push the NLD to endorse its stance or tacit
approval against all-inclusiveness and its hard-line policy that has led to the
international accusation of human rights violations in Arakan, Kachin and Shan
States, among others.
The NLD on the other hand seems to be now resigned to treading lightly
more than ever, where the constitutional amendment is concerned after some
attempted failures within the parliament, due to the 75% approval ceiling
needed by the parliamentarians to make amendment proposal even to sail through
the first motion in the parliament.
Older members mostly tend to favor to go slow and refrain from
challenging the military on constitutional amendment. But younger members are
frustrated and want to accelerate the change that the NLD has promised in its
election campaign manifesto. Thus, a certain latent conflict could be said to
exist within the rank and file of the party. In general, the NLD has been
echoing the Military's position to restore peace first and constitutional
amendment later.
Recently, Win Htein talked and argued that the NLD is still on the ball
and that gradual changing of constitution is the way to go, by using the
Burmese words "da saint saint" evolutionary change, which could be
translated into"seeping in slowly", whatever he meant to say by that.
Given such an atmosphere, the Military and the NLD latent conflict will
linger on and rows such as Phyo Min Thein, Win Htein and Military would
definitely pop up now and then again. But for now the constitutional amendment
is being pushed back to be a back-burner, at the expense of the electorate that
have weighed in their lot, believing that Suu Kyi and her NLD would be able to
deliver on their election campaign manifesto of “time to change”.
Tags: Opinion
