Yangon - Myanmar's new ministers and deputy ministers went to work Friday under orders to be transparent and accountable and promote democracy as experts expressed little hope for any real change.
Authorities have proclaimed the return to civilian government, but given the military makeup of the new regime, few were expecting a dramatic departure from junta rule.
The country's new cabinet, consisting of 29 ministers and 39 deputy ministers, officially took over the positions from the outgoing junta that has been ruling Myanmar since 1988, sources said.
President Thein Sein, in a speech broadcast Thursday night on state-controlled television, said the new government needed to be 'transparent and accountable' and to 'develop the democratic process.'
Among the ministers, 86 per cent are former or still active military men, reflecting the membership composition of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won the November 7 election.
The USDP, led by Thein Sein, is the political arm of Myanmar's military establishment, which has monopolized the country's political scene since 1962 when former strongman General Ne Win seized power in a coup.
There are a higher proportion of civilians among the deputy ministers.
'At the deputy minister level, around a third are civilian technocrats, but they may not have power to initiate policies,' said Win Min, a US-based Myanmar political scientist.
Thein Sein said the most important task for the new government was 'to implement good governance and clean government.'
But he said the new cabinet would not be getting a pay rise and would earn what the junta-run regime was paid. State salaries are notoriously low in Myanmar, a significant factor in widespread corruption.
Thein Sein also expressed qualified support for the fourth estate. 'We need to accept media reports that criticize positively,' he said.
Under junta rule, Myanmar's media was largely state-controlled and passive.
Many longtime observers of Myanmar's political scene have already written off the new government as an effort by the military to present a civilian face to persuade Western democracies to end their economic sanctions on the country, which was once known as Burma.
'No one is fooled by the Burmese military regime's claims that the government has changed hands to civilian officials,' US Congressman Joseph Crowley said from Washington.
'This attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community will not work,' he said.
Authorities have proclaimed the return to civilian government, but given the military makeup of the new regime, few were expecting a dramatic departure from junta rule.
The country's new cabinet, consisting of 29 ministers and 39 deputy ministers, officially took over the positions from the outgoing junta that has been ruling Myanmar since 1988, sources said.
President Thein Sein, in a speech broadcast Thursday night on state-controlled television, said the new government needed to be 'transparent and accountable' and to 'develop the democratic process.'
Among the ministers, 86 per cent are former or still active military men, reflecting the membership composition of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which won the November 7 election.
The USDP, led by Thein Sein, is the political arm of Myanmar's military establishment, which has monopolized the country's political scene since 1962 when former strongman General Ne Win seized power in a coup.
There are a higher proportion of civilians among the deputy ministers.
'At the deputy minister level, around a third are civilian technocrats, but they may not have power to initiate policies,' said Win Min, a US-based Myanmar political scientist.
Thein Sein said the most important task for the new government was 'to implement good governance and clean government.'
But he said the new cabinet would not be getting a pay rise and would earn what the junta-run regime was paid. State salaries are notoriously low in Myanmar, a significant factor in widespread corruption.
Thein Sein also expressed qualified support for the fourth estate. 'We need to accept media reports that criticize positively,' he said.
Under junta rule, Myanmar's media was largely state-controlled and passive.
Many longtime observers of Myanmar's political scene have already written off the new government as an effort by the military to present a civilian face to persuade Western democracies to end their economic sanctions on the country, which was once known as Burma.
'No one is fooled by the Burmese military regime's claims that the government has changed hands to civilian officials,' US Congressman Joseph Crowley said from Washington.
'This attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the international community will not work,' he said.
0 comments:
Post a Comment