Burma claims steps toward democracy; military holds rule

BANGKOK - After 14 years of on-and-off sessions, a constitutional convention in Burma produced a set of charter guidelines yesterday, the first step on a "road map to democracy" whose end is still not in sight.

Six more steps will lead to a constitutional referendum and an election. But the document ensures that the military, which has ruled Burma since 1962, will remain the dominant force wherever the road map leads.

Under the guidelines, the military will control key ministries, hold large blocs of unelected seats in all legislative bodies and have the right to declare a state of emergency and seize power at any time.

The document severely limits the rights of political parties, and it hedges its provisions on human rights and political activity with limitations based on concerns of national security.

The guidelines failed to meet the expectations of minority groups that have been demanding autonomy and other rights. There are reports that some groups involved in past cease-fires have begun to rearm in remote jungles.

The document also attempts to limit opposition by setting requirements for political office that seem tailored specifically for Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her opposition party, the National League for Democracy.

Western nations have criticized the process as an undemocratic show designed to produce an undemocratic constitution.

"It's been a sham process," said a Western diplomat in Rangoon, the capital and country's largest city. "The whole escapade has been 1,100 hand-picked delegates who have to get permission before they can table any interventions."

"It's becoming increasingly evident that this government is not willing to give an inch," the diplomat said.

In a sign of continuing opposition and discontent, the end of the convention coincided with an eruption of street protests following an unannounced rise in fuel prices two weeks ago. The protests have been mostly small and the government has responded with force, arresting most of the leaders. Demonstrations have dwindled as the days have passed, and no protests were reported in Rangoon the past week.

The nation has had no constitution since its 1974 charter was abrogated when the current junta seized power after crushing a pro-democracy uprising and causing the deaths of thousands of people.

Two years later, generals made the tactical mistake of holding an election and lost in a landslide to the party of Aung San Suu Kyi.

They annulled those results, clung to power and in 1993 embarked on their long constitution-drafting process. The convention was suspended in 1996 after the delegates from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, many of whom had won seats in the aborted election, walked out, calling the sessions undemocratic.

The convention reopened in 2004 with 1,100 representatives, but without members of the National League for Democracy.

Not much has changed in the politics of Burma, renamed Myanmar by the military junta, in the intervening years. Thousands of opponents of the government have been arrested and Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 17 years.

The junta, which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council, has kept a grip on power despite sanctions by the United States, the European Union, and other nations.

These sanctions have been undermined by trade from India, Russia, and especially China, which has become a powerful economic and political force in Burma.

Nevertheless, Burma has remained one of the poorest countries in Asia, because of what analysts say is the mismanagement and corruption of military leaders.

Cut off from the world, Burma's rulers see themselves as under attack from opponents both abroad and at home.

The constitutional convention took place in the shadow of a special law that mandates a prison term of up to 20 years for anyone seen to be criticizing the process. Foreign diplomats and reporters were excluded from a closing ceremony yesterday that was held at a secure location outside Rangoon.