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Burma’s military government resumed on Tuesday its 13-year-long National Convention, tasked with drafting a constitution, without the participation of the country’s main opposition groups, as hundreds of people in cities across the country joined a new campaign in support of detained former student leaders.
Opposition groups inside and outside the country have strongly condemned the convention. “It is valueless, since it lacks democratic principles,” said Nyan Win, a spokesperson for Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy. The NLD won a landslide victory following elections in 1990, but the ruling junta refused to honor the results. The party’s involvement in the convention ended in 1995, when their delegates walked out in protest. The NLD reiterated its opposition to the convention in 2004, prompting the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, Burma’s largest ethnic political party, to abandon the convention that year. “Restarting the sham National Convention, in defiance of the UN and the people of Burma, will do nothing to solve Burma’s problems,” said Aung Din, policy director for the US Campaign for Burma. “The Burmese people want real democracy, not a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Meanwhile, sources in Rangoon and Mandalay said that hundreds of people have participated in a new campaign called “White Expression” by wearing all white clothing. The campaign was launched on Tuesday by the 88 Generation Students group and will run until October 18.
The campaign is intended to push the military government to free all political prisoners and initiate a genuine national reconciliation process. The group, which is composed of former political prisoners, planned its campaign a few days after authorities arrested its five leaders—including the most prominent leader, Min Ko Naing—at the end of September. Nyan Win said that all members of the NLD wore white clothing on Tuesday. Well-known Burmese comedian Zarganar added that many young people could be seen wearing white in downtown Rangoon, particularly in shopping malls. “I have seen many young people wearing white since this morning,” Zarganar told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. “I am also wearing white.” Tin Win Yi, an NLD member from Mandalay, said that many people there were also joining the campaign. Prior to the White Expression campaign, the student group began a petition campaign to free their detained leaders. Nyan Win said that two of its youth members were arrested last week after collecting signatures and trying to send them to the student group. Win Ko, a youth leader, and Than Win, both from the Moe Nyo township NLD office, were arrested at a train station in their township while carrying petition signatures to the 88 Generation Students group. As of Saturday, some 120,000 signatures have been collected, according to the student group.
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State-run newspapers earlier reported that more than 1,000 delegates would attend the National Convention, which first convened in 1993. The convention is the first of seven steps in the military government’s roadmap to democracy. No timetable has yet been given for proposed democratic reforms.
