=====
Zomi says:
The generals are ruled by Attahita (selfishness). They do not know what
Prahita (interest in the welfare of others) means. They are keen to
monopolize on state power.
Highlights:
The government has been criticized for failing to rush aid to victims,
angering a public already simmering with discontent after the junta's
deadly
crackdown on pro-democracy protests last September.
"People are trying to rebuild their lives, find their families and
friends.
Nobody is interested in going to vote," Aung Din, director of the
Washington-based advocacy group U.S. Campaign for Burma, said Monday,
adding
that the junta's slow response to the cyclone would likely generate a
stronger "No" vote.
Myanmar watchers say the run-up to the referendum has been marked by no
debate, no polls and no effort to inform the public about the contents of
the draft constitution.
Any hint of criticism has been quickly silenced.
=====
In nod to world pressure, Myanmar delays vote in some areas
By JOCELYN GECKER, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 23 minutes ago
Bowing partly to international demands, Myanmar's junta decided Tuesday to
postpone voting on a new and long-awaited constitution in areas
hardest-hit
by a devastating cyclone as the death toll soared.
For the rest of the country, however, polling stations were expected to
open
Saturday as planned. The decision drew swift criticism from dissidents and
human rights groups who question the credibility of the vote and urged the
junta to focus on disaster victims.
"They should suspend the referendum completely and devote all their
national
resources to the affected areas," said Debbie Stothard, head of the
Southeast Asian human rights group ALTSEAN-Burma. Myanmar is also known as
Burma. "They really need to prioritize ... and make sure that no more
people
die from exposure or from malnutrition or illness."
Logistically and politically, it couldn't be a worse time to ask voters to
approve a draft constitution that critics say is designed to cement
military
rule.
Tropical cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar over the weekend, killing tens of
thousands of people and leaving tens of thousands more missing, state
radio
reported. Most of dead were in the low-lying Irrawaddy delta region while
a
smaller number died around Yangon, the country's largest city, according
to
the information minister.
State radio Tuesday broadcast the junta's announcement that voting on the
military-backed constitution would be delayed until May 24 in most of the
townships around Yangon and in seven of the Irrawaddy delta townships.
The announcement implied that voting would proceed as planned in the rest
of
the country this weekend, including many areas still struggling with a
lack
of electricity, water and shelter caused by the cyclone that left as many
as
1 million homeless, according to the U.N. World Food Program.
The government has been criticized for failing to rush aid to victims,
angering a public already simmering with discontent after the junta's
deadly
crackdown on pro-democracy protests last September.
"People are trying to rebuild their lives, find their families and
friends.
Nobody is interested in going to vote," Aung Din, director of the
Washington-based advocacy group U.S. Campaign for Burma, said Monday,
adding
that the junta's slow response to the cyclone would likely generate a
stronger "No" vote.
But public opinion - and whether or not voters in cyclone-hit areas can
physically reach polling stations - doesn't appear to be the junta's
concern, according to political analysts.
"The military regime has never had any intention of holding a free and
fair
vote," said Monique Skidmore, a Myanmar expert and professor at Australian
National University. "They don't care if everyone votes or not. They care
about the outcome and I have no doubt they will manipulate the outcome in
their favor."
Myanmar's generals have hailed the referendum as an important step forward
in their "roadmap to democracy." It offers the first chance for voters to
cast ballots since 1990, and the probability is high they will approve the
constitution - a legal framework the country has lacked for two decades.
But critics, including the United Nations, the United States and human
rights groups, question whether it will lead to democracy.
"The constitution will continue military power. There's no question about
that," said David Steinberg, a Myanmar expert and Georgetown University
professor who has been granted rare visits to meet junta officials.
The 194-page draft constitution paves the way for elections promised in
2010. It calls for a multiparty system, which the junta describes as a
"discipline-flourishing democracy," in which the military retains key
powers.
Myanmar has been ruled by military regimes since 1962. The current junta
seized power in 1988, throwing out the country's last constitution.
A junta-appointed committee took 14 years to draft the proposed charter,
refusing U.N. demands to seek input from the opposition.
One provision was apparently custom-made to keep detained democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi sidelined. It bars from elected office anyone married to
a
foreigner or with children holding a foreign nationality.
The 62-year-old widow, who has been detained for 12 of the past 18 years,
was married to a British man and has two children who are British
nationals.
Deemed a national security threat, she is the world's only imprisoned
Nobel
Peace Prize recipient.
In the country's last election in 1990, Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy party won a landslide victory that the junta refused to honor.
Instead, the generals stepped up arrests and repression of dissidents.
A strong military presence in future governments would be guaranteed by
clauses in the draft charter that reserve several Cabinet seats for
military
officers as well as one-quarter of the seats in both houses of parliament.
Changing the text would be tricky: Amendments would require approval by
more
than 75 percent of lawmakers, meaning backing from some of the soldiers
sitting in parliament.
Myanmar watchers say the run-up to the referendum has been marked by no
debate, no polls and no effort to inform the public about the contents of
the draft constitution.
Any hint of criticism has been quickly silenced.
Suu Kyi's pro-democracy party said in a recent statement the military has
stepped up harassment and arrests of its members, some of whom dared to
step
out in public last month wearing T-shirts that said, "No."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080506/ap_on_re_as/myanmar_the_junta_s_vote
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