Rule of Law is Our Priority: NLD

By Lawi Weng 2 April 2012

Affirming the rule of law will be the first priority of the National League for Democracy (NLD) when its members join the Parliament, according to a party spokesman.

“The rule of law is vitally important to our country,” Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy on Monday. “Implementing it in Burma will be our party’s main focus.”

The NLD has vowed to take on three main challenges: the reform of the rule of law; amendment of the constitution; and building national reconciliation.

“We believe that our aims will be acceptable to the majority of people, and will benefit the country,” said Nyan Win.

Speaking in Rangoon on Monday morning, NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi said that the party welcomed working together with all the other political parties toward reforming the rule of law, toward amending the Constitution, and toward building national reconciliation.

Chan Tun, a former Burmese ambassador to China and North Korea, who now lives in Rangoon, said, “There will be more space and more freedom in Parliament to criticize and assess the situation in the country now that Suu Kyi has won a seat.

“But, it will be very difficult to implement her three-step road map as she is only one MP, not the entire government,” said Chan Tun. “However, there will be other elections when [the NLD] can become the government. Then, they can implement her road map.”

“I think this government wanted her [Suu Kyi] to be in Parliament because they wanted to show the people of Burma and the international community that they have cooperated with her,” said Aye Thar Aung, the chairman of the Arakan League for Democracy, who also sits as the general secretary of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament. “Moreover, the government wanted the international community to lift sanctions and allow aid from the World Bank.”