GENOCIDE IN MYANMAR

2. BACKGROUND
NLD members also confirmed that they joined protests held in Sittwe in February against parliament’s 2
February 2015 decision to allow white card holders to vote. 105 The vote overwhelmingly passed, with 328
votes in favour, 79 against and 19 absentee. 106 Just days later, however, on 11 February, President Thein
Sein reversed parliament’s decision even though in December 2014 he had recommended to parliament
that white card holders should be eligible to vote in a constitutional referendum scheduled for 2015. 107
In August 2015 Myanmar’s Electoral Commission banned U Shwe Maung, an elected Rohingya lawmaker
and USDP member (Rohingya MP for northern Rakhine state) from running for re-election. A fax from the
Electoral Commission notified U Shwe Maung that he was ineligible on the basis that he is not a citizen,
even though he had held office for the previous four years. 108
In July 2015, a proposal to amend section 261 of the constitution, to enable state and divisional legislatures
to elect their own chief ministers, failed to pass, having only achieved 66 per cent of favourable
votes (75 per cent is required). 109 The amendment received overwhelming support from civilian MPs: it is
assumed the military bloc (who are assigned 56 seats) voted against the proposal, which means that over
90 per cent of elected representatives voted in favour. Schedule Five, enumerating regional governments’
taxation powers, was extended to allow regional governments to bolster state and divisional funds via
taxes on 20 new potential revenue streams (such as oil and gas), including levies on income, commerce
and customs. Political commentator Yan Myo Thein commented on the vote:
If regional and state parliaments cannot select their Chief Ministers, it’s impossible for states
and regions to see their own government emerge in the post-2015 election [period]. In
other words, there is no possibility for self-administration to emerge in ethnic regions. Without
self-government and self-administration, the political path to a federal union is weakening. 110
The failure of proposed constitutional changes to section 261 is likely related to the peace process that
is addressing long-standing armed conflicts between the army and ethnic minority groups in various
regions, in the sense that it allows the military to retain bargaining power. The rejection of section
261 proposed amendments is detrimental for national political reconciliation, however, as a decision to
decentralise power would have demonstrated that the military is genuine about reform and granting
ethnic groups the political rights they have been demanding since Myanmar’s independence. This is a
particularly important issue in a country where minority peoples comprise a third of the population. 111
105 Kay Zue, ‘Rakhine Buddhists to protest against “white card” vote decision’, BurmaNet News, 6 February 2015:
http://www.burmanet.org/news/2015/02/06/mizzima-news-rakhine-buddhists-to-protest-against-white-card-vote-decisionkay-zue/.
Accessed 11 October 2015.
106 Lawi Weng, ‘”White Card” Holders Eligible to Vote on Constitutional Reform’, The Irrawaddy, 3 February 2015: http://www.
irrawaddy.org/election/news/white-card-holders-eligible-to-vote-on-constitutional-reform. Accessed 11 October 2015.
107 Nyein Nyein, ‘Thein Sein Pushes Referendum Suffrage for White Card Holders’, The Irrawaddy, 22 December 2014: http://www.
irrawaddy.org/election/news/thein-sein-pushes-referendum-suffrage-for-white-card-holders. Accessed 11 October 2015.
108 Fuller ,T, ‘Myanmar Striking Rohingya From Voter Rolls, Activists Say’, New York Times, 23 August 2015:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/24/world/asia/myanmar-lawmaker-u-shwe-maung-barred-from-re-election-oncitizenship-grounds.html?_r=0.
Accessed 11 October 2015. See also: Ye Mon, ‘Muslims parties fear exclusion from election’,
Myanmar Times, 27 August 2015: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/16176-muslim-parties-fearexclusion-from-election.html.
Accessed 11 October 2015.
109 Htoo Thant, Pyae Thet Phyo, and Lun Min Mang, ‘MPs vow to maintain push for chief minister selection change’,
Myanmar Times, 13 July 2015: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/15466-mps-vow-to-maintain-push-forchief-minister-selection-change.html.
Accessed 11 October 2015.
110 Yen Snaing, ‘Charter Push for Decentralization, Stronger Parliament Falters’, The Irrawaddy, 9 July 2015: http://www.
irrawaddy.org/burma/charter-push-for-decentralization-stronger-parliament-falters.html. Accessed 11 October 2015.
111 Transnational Institute, ‘Burma’s Ethnic Challenge: From Aspirations to Solutions’, Burma Policy Briefing, October 2013,
No.12, pp. 1-20. p. 3: https://www.tni.org/files/download/bpb_12_def.pdf. Accessed 11 October 2015.
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