16 Ausgust 2013 : Cairo Burning and 683 people killed!

16 Ausgust 2013 : Cairo Burning and 683 people killed!

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Cambodia : The battleground seats

Cambodia : The battleground seats

Siem Reap
6 seats

Though Siem Reap has long been a ruling-party stronghold (the CPP won four of six seats here in 2003, increasing their spoils to five of six seats in 2008), if recent opposition rallies are anything to go by, the province could be one of the more competitive domains in this election.

An estimated 100,000 supporters turned out to greet Sam Rainsy there Wednesday, possibly matching the number that turned out in Phnom Penh, the party’s traditional base, for his return from self-exile.

Rainsy’s rhetoric in Siem Reap aimed to exploit local sentiments that “Vietnamese” businesses have too much control over the province’s lucrative tourist trade.

Analysts also say that living standards in Siem Reap, which remains one of the Kingdom’s poorest provinces, will be a key issue.

Kampong Speu
6 seats

Despite being a relatively small province and one dominated by the CPP at the last national election, observers point to Kampong Speu as an area where competition between the two main parties will heat up in this election.

The now-merged SRP and HRP together won 34 per cent of total votes in last year’s commune elections, to the CPP’s 56 per cent, up from the 28 per cent of votes won between them in the 2008 national election.

In those same commune elections, parties other than the CPP were able to win 33 per cent of seats.

Old rivalries will also come to a head in Kampong Speu, with Pen Sovann, Cambodia’s first prime minister after the Khmer Rouge and a historic rival of Hun Sen, placed first on the CNRP ballot.

Hun Many, the premier’s youngest son and the first to run for office, is listed as a CPP candidate.

A successful election for him would signal the first step towards a new generation of CPP leadership.

Phnom Penh
12 seats

The Kingdom’s capital, worth a sizeable 12 seats, will always be an electoral battleground. In 2003, half the seats were won by the SRP, with the CPP and Funcinpec taking four and two seats respectively.

With Funcinpec’s 2008 electoral wipeout, the CPP took seven seats to the SRP’s five in 2008.

This election, observers are tipping the major parties to be in a dead heat for Phnom Penh, though some say the CNRP might have a slight edge.

Party heavyweights will also face-off in the capital, with CPP chairman/Senate president Chea Sim and former Phnom Penh governor Kep Chuktema running for the ruling party, while influential lawmaker Son Chhay and party spokesman Yim Sovann are on the CNRP ballot.

Kampong Cham
18 seats

The most populous province, with a mammoth 18 seats on offer, and home to many of the Kingdom’s sizeable Muslim Cham minority, Kampong Cham was one of the most contested provinces in the 2012 commune elections (where non-ruling parties managed to win 40 per cent of the total available seats).

The CPP won 11 seats here in 2008, but analysts expect the opposition to make further inroads this election. In a sign of the province’s clout, CNRP deputy president Kem Sokha and National Assembly president/CPP honorary chairman Heng Samrin are both running here as candidates, as is Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

Funcinpec’s president, Princess Norodom Arun Rasmey, is also running in Kampong Cham and hopes to retain the seat won in 2008 by a fellow royalist from the now-defunct Norodom Ranariddh Party (with which Funcinpec recently merged).

Prey Veng
11 seats

Although the CPP picked up seven of the 11 seats available in Prey Veng in 2008 on the back of Funcinpec’s decline, the province was the most contested in the 2012 commune elections.

In last year’s election, the HRP and SRP polled a total of 210,209 votes to the CPP’s 258,716 votes. Now that the opposition parties have merged into the CNRP, Prey Veng could shape up for a major showdown.

Given that the province is located on the border with Vietnam, observers say the CNRP’s anti-Vietnamese rhetoric will appeal to Prey Veng voters.

Kandal
11 seats

With 11 seats on offer, Kandal province, home to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s National Assembly seat, has been labelled by some observers as “the province to watch” this election.

In 2008, the SRP held on to three seats in the province. Its current CNRP alliance partner, the HRP, also picked up a seat amid the Funcinpec implosion that saw the royalists lose all three of their seats in the province.

The opposition will be hoping to claw back some of the CPP’s seven seats in Kandal come Sunday, but with Hun Sen’s reputation on the line, the ruling party is likely to do all it can to remain dominant.

Resource from:
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/battleground-seats

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Cambodia opposition chief Sam Rainsy barred from poll

Cambodia's newly returned opposition leader cannot be a candidate in upcoming polls, election authorities ruled Monday, rejecting his application to stand against strongman premier Hun Sen.

Sam Rainsy, who was greeted by huge crowds on Friday after his return from self-imposed exile in France, "did not fulfil the conditions in the process of registering candidates," National Election Committee (NEC) president Im Sousdey said in a letter.

"Regarding the request to register your excellency's name, the NEC cannot include it based on the... electoral law," said the letter, in response to Rainsy's application on Sunday to be added to the list.

NEC officials have previously suggested that it was unlikely the opposition leader, who was removed from the electoral register late last year, would be able to stand in the July 28 polls under the current law.

Rainsy has reportedly warned of a backlash if he is barred from standing.

He is seen as the main challenger to Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled Cambodia for nearly three decades.

Until he received a surprise royal pardon this month, Rainsy had faced 11 years in jail if he returned to Cambodia after he was convicted in absentia on charges that he contends were politically motivated.

Following his return home he has already hit the campaign trail to spearhead his party's efforts to loosen Hun Sen's grip on power.

Resource from:

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130722/cambodia-opposition-chief-barred-poll-1

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Cambodia : Hero's welcome for returning Rainsy

Cambodia : Hero's welcome 

for returning Rainsy

Over the course of 10 kilometres and three hours this morning, one could be forgiven for forgetting what country they were in.

A sea of supporters likely numbering more than 100,000 turned out to greet opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who touched down in Phnom Penh at 9:05am to a hero’s welcome following nearly four years of self-exile.

Slideshow of Rainsy's return

Supporters thronged the entire route from Phnom Penh International Airport to Freedom Park, slowing the convoy to a crawl as adulatory crowds swarmed around the cars carrying the opposition leader – arm-arm with Cambodia National Rescue Party deputy president Kem Sokha - and his retinue.

Just one week after he was granted a royal pardon, Rainsy descended from the plane with Sokha in tow, stepped onto the tarmac, and kissed the ground.

As the pair drove out of the gates, and a planned press conference disintegrated amid the chaos, Rainsy grabbed a microphone and shouted above the din of the crowd.

“I am so excited to see all of you. I am so happy, so excited to meet all my compatriots. Thank you, all of you. We are now walking together,” Rainsy told the overjoyed supporters. “I came this time to rescue the nation with all of you.”

While the amnesty pardoned Rainsy from 11 years in prison, for convictions on a raft of defamation and forgery charges widely believed to be politically motivated, it included no stipulations about his eligibility to run. His name has been stricken from both the voter list and candidate list in adherence with rules forbidding convicted persons to run, and the National Election Committee has stood firm that they cannot legally re-list Rainsy unless the laws are amended.

Regardless, if the crowds that turned out are any indication, it is clear that the return will provide a massive boost for the beleaguered party.
“I love him. I want him to be the [prime minister] of Cambodia. I want to change the [Prime Minister] and we needed him to come back,” said Un Charin. The 28-year-old motodop had come to the airport hours before Rainsy was set to arrive, 20 friends in tow.

“I studied in a university in Battambang for two years, but I can’t find a good job. I wanted to work in a company, but you have to pay money just to get a job. It’s time for a change,” he said, before bursting into chant of b’do, or change.

As the trucks slowly made their way toward Freedom Park, supporters – some of whom had been camped out since dawn – let out enormous cheers. Whole companies trickled out of their offices, the employees standing in neat lines, snapping photos with iPads and holding up homemade signs.

Near a factory, dozens of garment workers pressed against the barrier dividing the north and southbound lanes of Russian Boulevard.

“I missed lunch time, but that’s okay with me, I wanted to see His Excellency Sam Rainsy,” said 20-year-old Sreymom, a CNRP sticker plastered to her cheek. While the government has been touting its recent increase of the minimum wage in the garment sector, workers, she said, were more impressed by the CNRP’s promise of $150 a month minimum.

“I support the CNRP,” she said.

That sentiment is not limited to those in the garment industry.

Le Hour, a civil servant employed by the Ministry of Education, said Rainsy was the clear choice.

“He has a high knowledge of economic matters and enough stability to run our country. No corruption, no evictions,” he said.

“I’m a member of the CPP inside the ministry, but I don’t support the CPP’s policies. Many people [secretly] don’t support them, because they have too low a salary.”

Along the parade route, that appeared to be borne out.

As the cars slid by the Por Sen Chey district office of Education, Youth and Sports, officials leaned over the second-story balcony to watch the show. On the far end, metres away from their CPP-polo clad colleagues, a pair of well-dressed civil servants flashed the number 7.

A 30-year-old monk from Wat Stung Meanchey shouted “change!” before turning to speak to a reporter.

“I am happy to be able to come here and welcome our leader; he is brave and inspirational for the people. He is a man who truly loves his nation,” said venerable Chhit Sovann.

“I strongly hope that the CNRP will win this election, that people will get back their land and that our land at the border lost to the neighbouring country will also be taken back.”
In the car following Rainsy’s, Cambodians who had flocked in from the US and France to help the party during the campaign said they had little doubt the CNRP would win, should elections be free and fair.

“I’m strongly hoping we’re going to win and we’re going to change the country,” said Sovin David, a party member who has spent the past 18 years in France. “If they win, I’m not going back.”

“It’s been almost 30 years… Now it’s time for real democracy. Bring back Sam Rainsy!”

While the Ministry of Interior promised hundreds of officers to secure Rainsy’s return, few were present past the gates of the airport, leaving the task of keeping order to perhaps thousands of volunteers.

Young men and women, arms linked in daisy chains, surrounded his pickup truck, keeping back surging crowds, while a contingent of private bodyguards kept watch from inside the truck bed.

Despite the lack of a visible surplus of officers, the daylong demonstration remained peaceful throughout, with just a single minor reported incident over the course of the entire day.

Even a handful of CPP supporters who braved the crowds were met with no more than the occasional verbal jeers.

Also notably absent from the parade were local media. As dozens of Cambodian and foreign journalists scrambled up and down Russian Boulevard, racing to rooftops for the best shot and hopping on and off trucks, broadcasters were nowhere to be seen.

The television channels – all of them dominated by government ties – showed no footage of the rally, while other media downplayed it. Local news site CEN, one of the chief breaking news outlets, numbered the crowd in the thousands.

Taking note of the absence, a wry supporter walked the length of the route toting a homemade, Styrofoam camera. Coated with CNRP logos, the camera sported the letters TVK - the name of the state broadcaster.

Resource from:

Fri, 19 July 2013

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/unprecedented-turnout-greets-rainsy

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Cambodia : Opposition leader Sam Rainsy pardoned

Cambodia : Opposition leader Sam Rainsy pardoned

King Norodom Sihamoni has signed a pardon for self-exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy requested by Prime Minister Hun Sen, paving the way for the Cambodia National Rescue Party president to return before the July 28 election, Prince Norodom Charin confirmed Friday.

"Everything is signed and sent, Sam Rainsy has the document," Prince Charin said.

Council of Minister's spokesman Phay Siphan confirmed on Friday that Hun Sen has signed off on the request to King Norodom Sihamoni that day.

"The prime minister signed this morning a supporting letter to request a royal pardon to Sam Rainsy," he said.

Siphan said Hun Sen had made the decision in the name of national reconciliation and stability.

Rainsy had been convicted of a series of criminal charges related to a dispute of Cambodia's border and defamatory comments he made about foreign affairs minister Hor Namhong.

Resource from:

 http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/opposition-leader-sam-rainsy-pardoned

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ศาลจีนตัดสินประหารชีวิตอดีตรัฐมนตรีกระทรวงรถไฟ ในข้อหาทุจริตและรับสินบน

 ศาลจีนตัดสินประหารชีวิตอดีตรัฐมนตรีกระทรวงรถไฟ 

ในข้อหาทุจริตและรับสินบน

นายหลิว ฉือจุน ถูกกล่าวหาว่ารับเงินสินบนทั้งสิ้นกว่า 64 ล้านหยวน (ราว 320 ล้านบาท)ในช่วง 25 ปีที่ผ่านมา อัยการกล่าวว่านายหลิว รับเงินสินบนก้อนใหญ่เพื่อแลกกับการให้สัมปทานโครงการรถไฟความเร็วสูงอย่างผิดกฎหมาย และถูกขับออกจากพรรคคอมมิวนิสต์เมื่อเดือนพฤษภาคมปีที่แล้ว

อย่างไรก็ดี แม้ศาลในกรุงปักกิ่งจะตัดสินให้นายหลิวต้องรับโทษประหารชีวิต แต่คาดว่าศาลจะพิจารณาลดโทษเป็นจำคุกตลอดชีวิต

ทั้งนี้ นายหลิวนับเป็นเจ้าหน้าที่รัฐบาลระดับสูงที่สุดที่ถูกตัดสินให้มีความผิดในข้อหาทุจริต นับตั้งแต่นายสี จิ้นผิง ขึ้นดำรงตำแหน่งประธานาธิบดีจีนคนใหม่เมื่อต้นปีที่ผ่านมา โดยนายสีให้คำมั่นที่จะปราบปรามการทุจริตในพรรคคอมมิวนิสต์ในทุกระดับ

โครงการรางรถไฟความเร็วสูงที่นายหลิวเคยดูแลอยู่นั้น ถือเป็นโครงข่ายรถไฟความเร็วสูงที่มีขนาดใหญ่ที่สุดในโลกและเป็นโครงการอื้อฉาวที่ถูกวิพากษ์วิจารณ์ว่ามีการโกงกินกันอย่างมโหฬารและก่อหนี้มหาศาล ข่าวอื้อฉาวเรื่องเงินสินบนนี้ถูกขุดคุ้ยหลังเกิดเหตุรถไฟชนกันเมื่อ 3 ปีก่อนทางตะวันออกของจีนซึ่งมีผู้เสียชีวิต 40 คน

โดยในระหว่างการไต่สวน อัยการกล่าวแย้งว่า นายหลิวได้ช่วยเหลือให้บุคคล 11 ราย ได้รับสัมปทานรถไฟความเร็วสูงโดยแลกกับเงินสินบน การกระทำดังกล่าวส่งผลให้เกิดความสูญเสียต่อเงินภาษีของประชาชนและผลประโยชน์ของประเทศ

นายหลิวเข้ารับตำแหน่งรัฐมนตรีกระทรวงรถไฟเมื่อปี 2003 และมีส่วนร่วมในการอนุมัติโครงการขยายเครือข่ายรถไฟทั่วประเทศมูลค่าหลายพันล้านดอลลาร์สหรัฐ แต่เมื่อเดือนก.ค. 2011 เกิดเหตุรถไฟชนกันใกล้เมืองเหวินโจว ทางภาคตะวันออก ทำให้มีผู้เสียชีวิตถึง 40 ราย และบาดเจ็บกว่า 172 คน ที่เป็นเหตุให้มีการขุดคุ้ยหลักฐานกระทั่งพบว่ารายงานบัญชีการเงินอย่างน้อย 2 ฉบับ เมื่อปี 2010 และเดือนมีนาคม 2012 ระบุหลักฐานของการทุจริต ตัวเลขในบัญชี และการจัดหาเงินทุนที่ผิดปกติ

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Singapore : PM Lee says Singapore must get its politics right to stay competitive

Singapore : PM Lee says Singapore must get its politics right 

to stay competitive

Singapore must get its politics right in order to remain economically competitive for the future, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday at a dialogue.

Answering a question on how to build a sustainable economic model for the next 30 years Mr Lee said it has to start with politics.

"If the politics is wrong, you can't get the economics right," he said in a dialogue at the DBS Asia Insights conference at Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

The right politics will allow the government to implement policies to share the wealth broadly and keep society from being divided, he said.

Resource from:

http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/pm-lee-says-singapore-must-get-its-politics-right-stay-competitive-201

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Myanmar: Suu Kyi’s Presidential Ambitions Raise Security Fears

Suu Kyi’s Presidential Ambitions Raise Security Fears

After publicly announcing her desire to be Burma’s next president, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been urged by supporting politicians and activists to take special safety precautions.

The Nobel Peace laureate and parliamentarian—who was only released from house arrest under the former military regime in 2010—announced last week what Burma observers have long suspected: that she wishes to be president after the country’s next elections in 2015.

Peter Lin Pin, who was elected as a lawmaker in the 1990 election, which was annulled by the former military regime, said he worried Suu Kyi might be targeted in an assassination plot by those who wished to retain power as the country transitioned from nearly half a century of military rule.

“As she has expressed a desire to get power, I’m worried she might be assassinated by those who are mad for power,” Peter Lin Pin said. “Those who are crazy for power can get rid of her at any time.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be careful,” he added, referring to the opposition leader with a title of respect. “Even though it’s said that our country is now a democracy, military dictators are still behaving as they please.”

During the former military regime, which ceded power to a nominally civilian government in 2010, several plots targeted the democracy icon and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party. In the 2003 Depayin affair, a motorcade of Suu Kyi and her entourage was attacked by a pro-junta mob, leaving about 70 people dead.

Phone Myint Aung, a lawmaker from the New National Democracy Party, said law enforcement and security measures in Burma today were inadequate to protect Suu Kyi.

“A public idol and political figure like Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who aims to be president should be careful about her security,” he said. “The present situation is such that even ordinary citizens aren’t safe.”

Mya Aye, a leader of the 88 Generation Students Group, said the 2015 elections would likely be competitive, and that security should be provided for all presidential candidates.

“Threats to life and safety are not only important for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but also for all leaders of the state,” the activist said. “I hope there will be no cheating and it [the 2015 election] will be fair.”

Win Tin, a patron and co-founder of the NLD, said he was also concerned about Suu Kyi’s safety because she frequently goes out to meet with member of the public. The government, he said, should be responsible for protecting the democracy icon from any assassination attempt.

“Public leaders need to go among the public,” Win Tin said. “They know it’s dangerous, but that doesn’t discourage them, and there are no special arrangements for safety.”

Still, he said Suu Kyi had managed to take care of herself since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, that her political opinions were well known and firmly established, and that he trusted she would continue to take precautions to stay safe.

“It’s right to worry about her safety, but it’s impossible for her to stay away from the public over fears that it could be a danger to her life,” he said.

Soe Win, a senior politician from the NLD, said hard-liners continued to hold positions in the new government and that he worried they could stir up trouble ahead of 2015.

“There has been unrest in this democracy,” Soe Win said. “If it continues like this, the 2015 elections might not even happen.”

He said he believed religious clashes, including in west Burma’s Arakan State, were organized with political motives.

“This unrest has been stirred up systematically, with a specific purpose, and instigators must be behind it,” he said. “

NLD lawmaker Phyu Phyu Thin said recent clashes between Buddhists and Muslims—and the slow response of law enforcement—indicated that security standards in the country were weak.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should be more alert than ever,” she said. “She won’t stop going places because of security reasons—if she needs to go, she will—so we need to work together for her security.”

Resource from:

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/37570

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Thein Sein rejects Suu Kyi's constitutional reform demands

Myanmar's president Thein Sein has rejected a demand from opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to use his influence to open up a pathway for her to take the country's top job.

In an exclusive interview with the ABC, the president acknowledged Ms Suu Kyi's claim on his country's highest office, but says the parliament is to decide if the constitution should be changed and it is not his place to interfere.

"The constitution was written by the approval of the people," he said.

"So if the parliament authorises it and the people agrees for her to become the president, I don't have a say."

Ms Suu Kyi made the high-profile demand during the World Economic Forum East Asia, a gathering of global business and government leaders in the Myanmar capital, Naypyidaw.

The forum has been a launching pad to promote Myanmar's impoverished economy, but it also proved to be an opportunity for the opposition leader to voice her demands.

"For me to be eligible for the post of the presidency, the constitution will have to be amended," she said.

Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy dominated elections in Myanmar a year ago, but the constitution currently prevents the Ms Suu Kyi from running for the presidency because it bars anyone whose children are overseas citizens from holding the office.

Many Burmese believe the provision was specifically designed to block her from running for the position, as her two sons are British.

Changing the constitution requires a 75 per cent majority in the Myanmar parliament, where one-quarter of the seats are reserved for the military.

Thein Sein, a one-time general, is adamant he is not in a position to lobby for constitutional reform in order to pave the way for Ms Suu Kyi.

"There are three main pillars in our country," he said.

"That is the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch.

"So I do not have authority over the parliament."

Resource from:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-08/an-thein-sein-rejects-suu-kyi-demand/4742094

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Myanmar : Suu Kyi Urges Job Creation After World Economic Forum

Myanmar : Suu Kyi Urges Job Creation 

After World Economic Forum

MANDALAY—Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi raised the issue of unemployment during a rally near Burma’s second-biggest city this weekend.

“Official polls say 4 percent of the country is unemployed, but I think it’s more than that, because in Kawhmu, my constituency, more than 4 percent of the youth are unemployed,” the Nobel Peace laureate told a crowd of hundreds of supporters in the town of Pyin Oo Lwin, east of Mandalay, on Sunday. “This is the biggest problem at present and for the future of the country.”

“If a man is without a job, his well-being will suffer,” she said. “High unemployment will discourage development. We need to focus on this unemployment.”

Suu Kyi made the statement following the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Naypyidaw, which concluded on Friday. At the forum of business executives and political leaders in Burma’s capital, the democracy icon told reporters that job creation was a top priority as the country transitions from nearly half a century of military rule.

Speaking over the weekend near Mandalay, she said foreign investment would be key to creating new jobs, but highlighted lingering challenges to attracting capital from abroad.

“Foreign investors are afraid to invest in the country because there’s no guarantee for them, because we still lack rule of law and infrastructure here,” she said. “That’s why rule of law is fundamental to development in this country.”

She said poor rule of law had also encouraged religious violence and land grabs in the country.

“Without rule of law, land is seized from farmers and families are displaced,” she told the supporters who had come from as far away as east Burma’s Shan State to hear the democracy icon speak. Many farmers and displaced land owners in the crowd carried placards reading, “Mother Suu, please help people who have lost their land,” “Help us have rule of law,” and “We support Mother Suu to be president in 2015.”

The parliamentarian said lawmakers from her National League for Democracy (NLD) party had made progress since being elected to the legislature last year, but added that the fruits of their progress had yet to reach most Burmese people.

“We have made good progress even though we only have 43 seats in Parliament. But I have to admit, the citizens are still far from benefitting from the results of that progress,” she said, calling for further education and health reform as well as improvements in electricity supply.

She called on her supporters to actively participate in the reform process.

“Everyone, not only the government, has a responsibility to create a democratic country,” she said. “Everyone must know their duties and follow the rules.”

Suu Kyi last week publicly announced for the first time her desire to be president in 2015.

“If Daw Suu becomes president, we believe there will be rule of law and no more oppression or land confiscations,” Khin Maung San, a farmer whose land in Naung Cho, Shan State, had been confiscated in a land grab, told The Irrawaddy. “She is our only hope.”

“But we doubt she will be president because of the 2008 Constitution,” Khin Maung San added, referring to an article in the Constitution which bans Suu Kyi from running for president because her late husband was British and her children are foreign citizens. “If we can’t repair the Constitution, we must fight strong so Aung San Suu Kyi can lead us.”

Resource from:

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/36956

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Aung San Suu Kyi says she wants to run for president

Aung San Suu Kyi says she wants to run for president

Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi is blunt and unapologetic.

"I want to run for president and I'm quite frank about it," she told a panel during the first day open discussion at the World Economic Forum in Myanmar on Thursday.

"If I pretended that I didn't want to be president, I wouldn't be honest and I would rather be honest with my people than otherwise."

Suu Kyi's determination to drag her country free from the stifling restraint of an military regime is finally being realized more than two and a half years after her release from years of house arrest.

However, two years into the presidency of Thein Sein, she says that the vast majority of Myanmar's people are not seeing the benefits of reform.

"If you talk to the man on the street, if you talk to people in villages, the great majority of them would say that their lives have not changed since 2010. "

'This is a transformation time'

Her assertion was backed by a number of people in the busy Bogalay Market in downtown Yangon.

Win Shwe stood in a long coat at the market entrance, raising his hand every now and then as if to bless passersby. The 72-year-old was begging for a note or two of the local currency, the kyat

"This is a transformation time. But for poor people, nothing's changed. The government mechanism is corruption," he said.

Sitting beside her daughter nearby at a flower stall, Khin Than Win, 52, said: "I agree that this is a transformation time. But I see that the streets and the roads are wider than before. That's the only change."

People "want to feel that they have been included in the process of change," Suu Kyi told the panel.

"And that's nothing to do with the number of cars that you now see in Rangoon (Yangon) or the number of magazines that you can buy because the vast majority of our people have no access to those."

Suu Kyi: Amend constitution

To clear the way for her presidency, Suu Kyi said the country's constitution had to change.

As it stands, the former political prisoner is ineligible to contest the presidency because of a clause that bans anyone with a foreign spouse or child.

Suu Kyi's late husband, Michael Aris, was English and her two sons have British passports.

Asked whether she was reasonably optimistic that those changes would be made, Suu Kyi said, "I don't believe in indulging in optimism. Let me put it this way. I've always said hope has to be backed up by endeavor.

"So, rather than being optimistic or hoping that the constitution will be amended we're going to work for the constitution to be amended."

But while many see Suu Kyi as the country's best chance for the future, she's been criticized for not being vocal enough in defense of the rights of Rohingya Muslims in the western Rakhine State.

Human Rights Watch has accused the Myanmar government of the "systematic and wide ranging persecution" of the Rohingya who it also says have been the target of ethnic cleansing.

Minister: Change needs time

Suu Kyi says she has been speaking out "but it's just that they're not hearing what they want to hear from me."

"I cannot doctor my answers to please everybody. I have to say what I believe in. And I believe that the rule of law is the first step towards any kind of solution to the problem in Rakhine State and other parts of the country."

"We must get to the point of reassessing the law to see if it comes up to international norms or not."

She added, "I would like all of the world to understand that we are aware of the difficulties in our country and we're doing our best to cope with it. When I say 'we,' I'm not talking about the government, I'm talking about ordinary people in Burma."

A government minister also on the panel said he agreed that the constitution had to change, but stressed that decades of military rule had created binds that would take time to unravel.

"We need time. We are in the dark ages. The other system was in place about 60 years. We have an idea to arrange for everything we have to change, but we need time," said Union Minister Soe Thane.

"We have to untie the rope. It's very difficult but we must do it. We must think about the democracy. We must think of the economic development of 60 million people."

Resource From:

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/06/world/asia/myanmar-suu-kyi-presidential-aspiration/?hpt=hp_t2

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