Parliament OKs New Legal Affairs Commission Members
By San Yamin Aung 5 April 2016
RANGOON — The Union Parliament appointed four new members to its Legal Affairs and Special Cases Assessment Commission, which is led by the former Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) chairman, Shwe Mann.
The new appointees to the powerful legislative commission include National League for Democracy (NLD) senior member Win Htein; NLD Upper House lawmaker from Mandalay Division Dr. Than Win, who was appointed vice chairman of the commission; retired civil servant Nyi Tun; and retired director general of the Ministry of Information Bo Win.
Upper House Speaker Mahn Win Khaing Than announced the new members during a parliamentary session on Tuesday, and the MPs approved them.
The new members replaced Dr. Win Myat Aye [vice chairman], Dr. Myint Htwe, Aung Myint, and Soe Yal, who resigned from the commission after they were assigned other Union-level positions.
Commission members support lawmakers, liaise between legislative committees and make recommendations directly to Parliament.
Shwe Mann, the former general who is viewed as an ally of Aung San Suu Kyi, presented the commission’s first assessment to the newly sworn in NLD government on March 31. In a review of existing legislation on the books in Burma, the commission recommended that 142 laws be scrapped, amended or rewritten.
The assessment focused on the state budget, taxation, tendering, farmers’ rights and government office expenditures.
