Myanmar opposition offer heading for black hole
The offer by the National League for Democracy was impractical and a sign of desperation that may not even elicit a response from the generals who have ruled the former Burma in various guises since 1962, analysts said on Wednesday.
A former senior member of the NLD said it was likely to meet the same fate as a similar offer Suu Kyi's party made after the elections, which followed a student-led uprising put down ruthlessly by the military with large loss of life.
"We once made the same proposal to the regime around November 1990. We requested them to convene the parliament and offered to declare them a legal government," he said on condition of anonymity.
"However, the then regime leader, Saw Maung, turned it down flat. He said they were already a legal government and nobody needed to legalize them," he said. "I'm sure the present regime will snub it."
Political analyst Win Naing said the call to summon the Parliament was impractical in any case. Many of those elected have fled the country or resigned under pressure while some have died.
"It's easier said than done to summon a people's Parliament now with the representatives-elect of 1990 elections," he said.
"They seem to have done it as a political gambit in a desperate attempt," he said.
"I don't think the SPDC will give any thought to their proposal," he said, referring to the junta by its official acronym, which stands for State Peace and Development Council.
The offer upset fellow members of the Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP), a loose opposition alliance who said the NLD had not even consulted them before making the proposal public on Tuesday. "We, the leaders of the ethnic parties, were caught by surprise by their announcement," CRPP spokesman Pu Chin Sian Thang said. "The NLD leaders didn't discuss the announcement with the rest of the CRPP members."
There has been no sign, despite mounting international pressure led by the United States, that the junta intends to free Suu Kyi from house arrest and talk to the NLD about moving to democracy.
Suu Kyi's detention at her lakeside villa in Yangon was renewed for six months in November and just this week the house arrest of a top aide, Tin Oo, 79, was prolonged for another year and it is expected her's will also be extended.
The NLD is a frequent target of criticism from newspapers and magazines, which have to print commentaries given to them by the government.
There was more of it in weeklies published on Wednesday but probably written before the NLD offer was known.
"Since its formation, the NLD party has always worked only for seizing the state power, prioritising its self-interest more than the national interest," said a commentary published in several. "It always relied on the strength of some powerful foreign nations rather than internal national strength."
The junta says it has a seven-step roadmap to democracy, currently focused on a constitutional conference being boycotted by the NLD because of Suu Kyi's detention.
The conference, which critics say is designed to produce a constitution that will cement military control, was adjourned recently and is not due to meet again until late this year.