Reports hint Suu Kyi could become Myanmar president

 

Two pro-government television channels say that “positive results” could come out of negotiations between Myanmar’s military chief and Aung San Suu Kyi on suspending a constitutional clause that prevents her from becoming the president.

Ms. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party won a landslide victory in the Nov. 8 general elections. But she is barred from becoming president because of the Constitution’s Article 59 (f), which says anyone with a foreign spouse or children cannot hold the executive office. Ms. Suu Kyi’s late husband was British as are her two sons.

In separate but identical broadcasts late Sunday, Sky Net and Myanmar National Television said “positive results could come out on the negotiation for the suspension of the constitution Article 59 (f).”

Ms. Suu Kyi has been negotiating with commander-in-chief Gen.

Min Aung Hlaing on having the clause suspended, which can be legally removed only through a two-thirds vote in Parliament.

The military holds 25 percent of the nominated seats in Parliament, which means the NLD cannot scrap the clause on its own.

“I think everything will be fine,” Kyaw Htwe, a member of Central Committee of the NLD, told The Associated Press. “The negotiations will be positive for our leader Aung San Suu Kyi to become president,” said Mr. Kyaw Htwe, who is also a member of parliament.

But Yan Myo Thein, a political analyst, advised caution. .

“It is still too early to confirm that Suu Kyi will be among the presidential candidate,” he said. “Even the suspension and the constitutional amendment will take time. And we cannot really comment relying only on a short announcement on TV,” he said.

Ms. Suu Kyi has said previously that even if she doesn’t become the president she would run the country from behind the scenes. But clearly, the NLD would prefer the 70-year-old icon of democracy to lead the country, having struggled almost all her life for it.

On Friday, a legal advisory committee consisting of experts and members of the lower house was launched, led by Shwe Mann, the former head of the military-tied Union Solidarity and Development Party.

One of the few Ms. Suu Kyi allies in the defeated ruling party, Mr. Shwe Mann is believed to be supportive of a constitutional change.

Although national elections were in November, the president does not take office until March 31 or April 1 because of a long—winded selection process.

 

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 U.S. on North Korea satellite launch: Commitment to Pacific allies ironclad

An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday condemned North Korea’s launch of a satellite in violation of the UN restrictions on ballistic missile technology that are in place against it.

The North Korean satellite launch with ballistic missile technology, a month after it tested a nuclear device, pushed the Asia-Pacific region into volatility and set in a motion a series of diplomatic initiatives.

The U.S Secretary of State, John Kerry, spoke to South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday and “reaffirmed the U.S. ironclad commitment to the security and defence of Japan, the Republic of Korea, and our other allies,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The U.S and South Korea also decided to start talks on the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile defence system in South Korea, prompting immediate protests from China. The U.S has been nudging China to bring more pressure on North Korea and Mr. Kerry had travelled to China in the last week of January. President Barack Obama and President Xi Jinping spoke over phone on Friday about the situation in the Korean peninsula.

Permanent representatives of the U.S, Japan and South Korea to the UN - Samantha Power, Motohide Yoshikawa and Oh Joon respectively, said in a joint briefing in New York after the Security Council meeting that there was unity among the members that “in response to the DPRK, business as usual will no longer apply.”

“President Obama spoke with President Xi on Friday and in that call they agreed on the importance of a strong and united international response to North Korea’s illegal actions, including through an impactful UN Security Council resolution,” Ms. Power said. “China is a critical player. Our respect for China’s role and the necessity of China playing a constructive role here, I think is reflected in all of the high-level engagements…So we are hopeful that China, like all Council Members, will see the grave threat to regional international peace and security – see the importance of adopting tough unprecedented measures,” she said.

While China has condemned the North Korean nuclear test and satellite launch, it is also measured in its response. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had on January 27 said after meeting Mr. Kerry: “We also agree that the Security Council need to take further action and pass a new resolution. In the meantime, we must point out that the new resolution should not provoke new tension in the situation…destabilise the Korean Peninsula. Rather, the goal is to take the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula back to the right track of negotiation.”

Ms. Power said on Sunday: “So, none of us here are for sanctions for sanctions sake. We’re for sanctions to make a difference and to affect the calculus of a regime that has brazenly and recklessly acted in defiance of international norms and in a continual threat to regional and international peace and security.”

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