Myanmar panel to draft new constitution

The military regime that rules Myanmar announced a commission Thursday to draft a new constitution as part of its “road map to democracy,” an effort derided by critics as a sham to keep the generals in power.

Myanmar’s state-owned television station said Chief Justice U Aung Toe would chair the 54-member commission, which includes civil servants and military officers, but gave no time frame for completing its work.

Stage one of the road map was a national convention to draw up the “detailed basic principles” of the charter, which was completed in September after 14 years of off-and-on meetings. Most of the process was boycotted by the National League for Democracy, the opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi remains under house arrest in Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, also known as Rangoon, since her latest detention began in 2003. Her party won a landslide victory in the 1990 election only to be denied power by the army, which first seized power in 1962.

Most Western governments dismissed the convention as a charade to cement the junta’s grip on power.

Snippets of the “detailed basic principles” of the charter appearing in state media point to little transfer of power to a civilian administration or autonomy for the 100-plus ethnic minorities in the country, also known as Burma.