Why did Myanmar people unanimously vote for State constitution?

Man has two kinds of knowledge—firsthand knowledge and secondhand knowledge. Firsthand knowledge is more serious than secondhand knowledge. For instance, there is difference between the knowledge of those who have faced a battle firsthand and that of those who have learnt about a battle from others. Therefore, social scientists said that social knowledge could not create social life, and social life could create social knowledge. And nothing but man and its environs could create human morale. It is right. Different peoples have different ways of life, cultures and traditions according to the period and the land concerned. So, a nation and its people develop according to the social life. In that regard, a nation cannot copy the social life of a foreign country directly. Looking back to the Myanmar’s political history in the post-independence period, the people had to suffer the evil consequences of internal armed conflicts following disintegration of national solidarity in the time of the AFPFL government that exercised the 1947 constitution. The conflicts between different groups of political parties destabilized the nation. Thus, the Revolutionary Council had to take State duties. And the 1947 constitution became defunct. In the time of the Myanma Socialist Programme Party government that exercised the 1974 constitution, the nation got into economic crises on account of the centralized economy and politics. In the time of the Tatmadaw government, it has managed to organize 17 national race armed groups and other small groups, which rose against the successive governments, to return to the legal fold. So, the nation has enjoyed national reconsolidation and internal peace at the unprecedented level.

The number of remnant insurgents is very small and they are only active in remote border areas. The nation tried its utmost to rise from the economic crises and introduced the market economy and the multi-party system, thereby producing national entrepreneurs and educated middle class. Furthermore, the whole infrastructure of the nation has developed to a certain degree. The State constitution (draft) has been drawn, adopted and approved through the National Convention that took place with the theme of national unity and democracy. A constitution is the lifeblood of the nation. Scholars defined that a constitution is an agreement reached between the people and the government to share duties, powers and rights. Whether a constitution wins the support of the Aung Ze Min people rests on how much the constitution reflects the social life of the people and is based on human rights and democracy affairs of the people. In Myanmar that has been in the process of transforming itself into a democratic nation through the seven-step Road Map, since the government issued Announcement No 1/2008 for the approval of the State constitution, which was adopted by the National Convention, NLD had provoked and persuaded the people in collusion with the four western media groups to vote ‘No’ for the constitution and to disrupt the process of the referendum. It also issued various announcements to attack the government at the instigation of certain foreign countries.

However, all those attempts did not work because the entire Myanmar people have gained firsthand experiences and are knowledgeable enough to distinguish between right and wrong. Altogether 98.12 per cent of eligible voters cast vote in the referendum and 92.48 per cent of the voters were in favour of the constitution. Every voter enjoyed the rights to express their desire freely in the referendum held democratically, so 1,631,712 voters or 6.1 per cent of the voters cast ‘No’ vote. It was approved by the fact that the government did not take any action against not only the groups and persons who persuaded the people to vote ‘No’ but also those who voted ‘No’. So, it is fair to say that the constitution won the powers bestowed by the people, and it is the true mandate of the people. In the 1990 elections held for framing a constitution, NLD won the majority of the seats, but it did not represent the public. It was because it won the support of only over seven million of over 20 million voters. For example, a representative who wins the support of seven of 20 voters cannot represent all the 20 voters. According to the democratic traditions, he can represent all the 20 voters only if he wins the support of the majority of

the 20 voters.

Therefore, the State constitution that has been approved with the support of 92.48 per cent of the voters will form a government consisting of representatives, 75 per cent of which will be people’s representatives and 25 per cent of which, Tatmadaw member representatives. So, it is in conformity with the social life of the people. If one studies the constitution to find out whether the constitution is based on human rights and democracy affairs, one will notice that the constitution guarantees human rights and democracy affairs, and it is based on the people’s human rights and democracy affairs. The constitution prescribes the rights of every citizen on a wider scale. Regarding citizenship, and fundamental rights and duties of citizens, the 1947 constitution prescribed only 23 sections, and the 1974 constitution, only 26 articles. The present
constitution prescribes 46 sections. That reflects serious attention given to each citizen.

In addition, the constitution guarantees rights of farming for peasants, that the government will

have to take measures for farmers to enjoy reasonable prices for the crops they produce, and that the government will have to construct dams, river water pumping stations and underground water tapping stations that can contribute towards their farming, and it will have to provide agricultural methods and high-yield crop strains. Moreover, the constitution guarantees that the government will have to promulgate laws as necessary to safeguard the rights of workers, to bring down the unemployment rate, and job security and fulfillment of basic needs of the people. It also enumerates that the government will not nationalize private-owned property and will not demonetize the currency in circulations. Besides, the constitution encourages the market economy and manifests measures for transforming the nation from the conventional farming to mechanized farming, national economic development and economic rights.

The constitution also stipulates better democracy rights than that in previous periods. It prescribes one self-administered division and five self-administered zones for national races. According to the constitution, every national race, which has not got region, state, self-administered division or self-administered zone and whose population makes up more than 0.1 per cent of the nation’s population will have to elect a representative from among its population to the Region/State hluttaw and will enjoy the rights to exercise the legislative power through that representative. The representative will become the minister for national race affairs of the governing body of the Region or State government. These points are only some of the rights stated in the constitution. In the three articles under the name of “The most appropriate State constitution” stated in the newspapers, writer Soe Mya Kyaw presented the rights and democracy rights bestowed upon the citizens. Those interested may study those articles for their knowledge. The people have studied the constitution that bestows better rights, making a comparative study of the three constitutions and taking lessons from the events they have faced in successive periods. That is the reason why 98.12 per cent of the eligible voters cast votes in the referendum, and 92.48 percent of the voters cast ‘yes’ vote for the State constitution (draft).