Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called Tuesday for stronger political parties so that democracy could flourish in the country and asked citizens to scrutinize lawmakers’ performance more closely.
Speaking after a parliamentary session in the capital Naypyidaw, the 67-year-old Nobel Peace laureate said that as the country emerges from decades under military rule, citizens should focus on how well parties representing them in parliament are shaping the country’s future.
“We need political parties if we are going to move toward becoming a democratic country, but these parties need to be strengthened,” she told members of her National League for Democracy party who were visiting parliament.
How much of a role parliament can play in directing the course of the country’s future depends on the level of skill of lawmakers, she said.
“Only having the willingness to act is not enough. What’s needed is for parliamentarians to be skillful.”
“So you need to observe the lawmakers as well,” she said.
Aung San Suu Kyi, a longtime prodemocracy leader who was held for years under house arrest during the previous junta rule, joined parliament in April last year following landmark by-elections held after a series of reforms spearheaded by President Thein Sein, a former military general.
Myanmar’s parliament is dominated by Thein Sein’s Union Solidarity and Development Party, which is backed by the military, which under the constitution is guaranteed one quarter of the seats in the legislature.
Opposition lawmakers have proposed amendments to the charter, which was written under military rule in 2008, that would remove the guarantee.
Aung San Suu Kyi said Myanmar’s parliament should have multiple political parties playing a strong role in making decisions without one party dominating the process.
“You need to understand the connection between political parties and parliament’s role,” she said.
"A real democratic system must have multiple parties. One-party politics is not democratic."
Reported by Win Naung Toe and Nay Myo Htun for RFA's Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.