NLD EXPANDS RESIDUAL PARLIAMENTARY BODY

C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 001387 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV CINCPAC FOR FPA E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2012 TAGS: PGOV PHUM BM NLD SUBJECT: NLD EXPANDS RESIDUAL PARLIAMENTARY BODY Classified By: DCM Ron McMullen FOR REASON 1.5(D). ¶1. (SBU) On October 23 the Committee Representing the Peoples, Parliament (CRPP) announced that it was appointing four new ethnic members and inviting other political parties to join. The CRPP was created by the NLD and ethnic parties in September 1998 to represent the Parliament that was elected in 1990 but never allowed to take power. The parties represented by the CRPP won approximately ninety percent of the seats in the 1990 elections. When the Committee was created in 1998 the regime responded harshly, arresting more than 200 activists and Members of Parliament-elect. ¶2. (C) Expanding the CRPP at this time is an important step in publicly consolidating ethnic support behind the NLD and improving communications and coordination between ethnic groups (which the junta attempts to keep isolated and factionalized). It also creates a good mechanism for incorporating ethnic concerns into any NLD dialogue with the SPDC on national reconciliation, should that occur. The big question is whether these actions by the CRPP will also serve to prod the SPDC toward a dialogue or just lead to another crackdown. The ethnic political leaders tell us they believe this was "the right card to play" as MP-elects with a responsibility to show the people that they are concerned for their well-being. SNLD Chairman Hkun Htoon Oo also said, however, that Military Intelligence had already contacted him warning that he and the other ethnic groups are being "confrontational" by officially joining the CRPP, which the military has always viewed as a slap at its rule. ¶3. (C) The CRPP could figure in a future political transitional phase, but the potential clout of this largely moribund committee is difficult to judge. Martinez