Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05RANGOON1361
2005-12-07 10:25:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rangoon
Cable title:  

THEY'RE BACK: REGIME RECONVENES NATIONAL CONVENTION

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL BM 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 001361 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL BM
SUBJECT: THEY'RE BACK: REGIME RECONVENES NATIONAL CONVENTION

REF: A. RANGOON 1357

B. RANGOON 1352 AND PREVIOUS

C. RANGOON 380 AND PREVIOUS

D. 04 RANGOON 637 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: P/E Chief W. Patrick Murphy for Reasons 1.4 (b,d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RANGOON 001361

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL BM
SUBJECT: THEY'RE BACK: REGIME RECONVENES NATIONAL CONVENTION

REF: A. RANGOON 1357

B. RANGOON 1352 AND PREVIOUS

C. RANGOON 380 AND PREVIOUS

D. 04 RANGOON 637 AND PREVIOUS

Classified By: P/E Chief W. Patrick Murphy for Reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (C) Summary: The Burmese regime reconvened the third
session of its National Convention (NC) on December 5 with
diatribes against its foreign and domestic critics and
instructions that its 1,000-plus hand-picked delegates toe
the party line. The regime clearly views the NC charade as
an indefinite process. The GOB claims it will eventually
produce a new constitution, as the first step on a "road map
to a disciplined democracy," but the process seems to be less
a mechanism for a political transition than a means of
appeasing the country's ethnic minorities and to meeting the
low expectations of some in the international community. The
democratic opposition, from the regime's perspective, is not
even part of the equation. The regime has taken new steps to
ensure that the opposition is neither a source of pressure
from outside the Convention nor an irritant from within it.
The most recent example was the virtual exile of Shan leaders
reported in Ref A. End Summary.

BACK IN SESSION - AGAIN


2. (U) On December 5 the Burmese regime reconvened its
farcical National Convention (NC),a pre-ordained
constitutional "drafting" process that has been on hiatus
since recessing in March at the end of an inconclusive
six-week session (ref B). Trumpeting a "99.44 percent"
attendance rate of NC delegates, SPDC Secretary-1, Lt-Gen
Thein Sein, who serves as Chairman of the National Convention
Convening Commission, launched the current session at
Nyaunghnapin Camp, a highly secure training facility for the
regime's mass-member USDA, located 20 miles north of Rangoon.


3. (SBU) The regime's 1,074 hand-picked delegates, heads of
mission from more than a dozen diplomatic and UN missions,
and a handful of international journalists attended opening
ceremonies of the NC's plenary session. Most Western
missions, including ours, declined to attend the event (Note:
U.S. defense attaches also declined to attend a similar

ceremony on December 6 for the defense attach corps. End
Note.). The Russian Ambassador, who attended the opening
ceremonies on December 5, said he didn't bother to listen to
the proceedings since they were conducted entirely in Burmese
and he had already cabled his analysis to Moscow based on the
regime's pre-brief for diplomats (ref A). The Vietnamese
Ambassador, who also attended, laughed and shook his head
when the Charge asked if we should expect a new constitution
anytime soon.


4. (C) The original National Convention collapsed in 1996,
after three years of fits and starts, when Burma's leading
democratic opposition party, the National League for
Democracy (NLD),pulled out in protest over the regime's
manipulation of the process. The SPDC has since excluded
democratic opposition parties, including the NLD, from the
process. The NC session reconvened this week is the third
since the SPDC reconstituted the Convention in late 2003 as
the first step on its ill-defined "road map to a disciplined
democracy" (ref C).

THOSE PESKY DESTRUCTIVE ELEMENTS


5. (U) In his brief opening speech, Gen Thein Sein responded
to NLD and international criticism of the exclusive NC
process by urging delegates "to be vigilant against the
dangers and perpetrations of the internal and external
destructive elements (who are) obstructing and harming our
National Convention." Thein Sein claimed that the NC work
committee had studied constitutions of "some neighboring and
western nations" during the recent recess, but insisted that
the regime would draft a constitution "best suited for our
country." Thein Sein did not specify a timeline for the
duration of this NC session, nor a target date for producing
a final constitution, but intimated that the process will
still take considerable time. (Note: Ref B reported GOB
indications that the NC process would not conclude before the
end of 2006. End Note.)

DON'T TALK, JUST LISTEN, FOR YOUR 50 CENTS A DAY


6. (U) Minister of Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan offered
"clarifications" on NC procedures to delegates and observers
on opening day. Kyaw Hsan read a long list of rules and
regulations, including requirements that delegates keep all
news about the NC "secret;" bow to the State flag whenever
entering or leaving the meeting hall; refrain from talking
about "the interests of organizations and persons that are
not in the framework of the law;" and not repeat "any matter
that has already been discussed at this meeting." The
Minister, saying that the strict rules are "badly needed for
security" and "are not an act of oppression," announced that
the regime had decided to increase per diem for delegates
from 200 to 500 kyats per day (from 20 cents to 50 cents).


7. (C) Delegates to the NC, many of whom attend unwillingly,
approached the current session with a mixture of dread and
resignation. Several delegates, speaking to Emboffs in
contravention of NC regulations, said that the "discussions"
held in Convention workshops are so contrived and manipulated
that the delegates have given up trying to make any
meaningful contributions, preferring to daydream while
regime-designated facilitators mull over pre-drafted
constitutional language. Although the increased per diem is
a welcome adjustment, delegates say that they cannot avail
themselves of "weekend passes" to escape the confines of the
NC site because local transportation costs are too costly.
On the other hand, say some delegates, they are not required
to do much actual work since the ultimate results are
predetermined and, therefore, enjoy the temporary vacation
from their regular routines at the office or on the farm.

TELL US WHAT WE WANT TO HEAR


8. (U) The regime's mouthpiece newspaper, the New Light of
Myanmar, notorious for its strident propaganda, published a
poem on December 6 that "celebrated" the gathering of
delegates from throughout the country, but unintentionally
made it clear that the regime does not expect open debate or
dissent at the National Convention. The poem read in part:

"Nyaung-hnapin, Victorious Camp
The National Convention
From all directions to attend
Delegate Brethren
To meet and discuss
To discuss and confer...
One tells what another wants to know
The other tells what one wants."

COMMENT: SAME TASTE, LESS FILLING


9. (C) Little has changed since May 2004 when the regime
reconvened the current National Convention. It was clear
then, and perhaps even more so now, that without an open,
deliberative, and participatory constitutional drafting
process, the regime's road map lacks any credibility as a
transition to democracy. The SPDC persists with the
charade, however, in order to buy time in dealing with the
country's ethnic minorities, who demand greater autonomy, and
in order to demonstrate to ASEAN members and other foreign
"friends" with low expectations that Burma continues (slowly)
toward rule of law. Since many had been convinced that this
would be the final session with a referendum scheduled in
2006, we will explore how the "friends" will justify this
more drawn out process. The democratic opposition, from the
regime's perspective, is not even part of the equation. The
SPDC's primary objective for the current NC is to maintain
complete control, avoiding the "mistakes" it made in 1993
when it allowed the NLD and its allies to influence the
process. In this respect, the regime has already succeeded.
Ref A reported the virtual exile of Shan leaders, who had
participated in earlier NC sessions. Excluded from the
proceedings -- with its leaders behind bars and its rank and
file members forced underground -- the opposition parties can
neither be a source of pressure from outside the Convention
nor irritants from within. End Comment.
VILLAROSA