INTRODUCTION

Myanmar is a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-religious society. There are eight main ethnic groups, with the Bamar (formerly known as Burman) being the largest, comprising over 60 per cent of the total population. There are four officially designated faiths (Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam), and although Myanmar is a secular state, Buddhism, with 90 per cent following, enjoys support from the ruling elite.

Administratively, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar is divided into seven states (named after the major non-Bamar ethnic group that resides in the area) and seven regions (areas with the Bamar ethnic group comprising the majority). There are also six self-administered zones comprising several townships where a substantial population of a non-Bamar ethnic group (which does not belong to the majority non-Bamar ethnic group if it is an ethnic state) resides. The new national capital called Nay Pyi Taw (meaning “Abode of Kings”) was established in November 2005, to replace Yangon (Rangoon). The English name “Burma” was dropped in favour of “Myanmar” on 18 June 1989.

POLITICAL SYSTEM

On independence, the country was a parliamentary democracy. After the coup on 2 March 1962, direct military rule was practised by the junta, known as the Revolutionary Council (RC). From January 1974, a one-party (Burma Socialist Programme Party or BSPP) socialist system was in place until 18 September 1988 when it reverted to military rule under the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in the midst of a popular uprising that had paralyzed the government for many weeks. The SLORC held a multi-party general election (for a unicameral legislature) in May 1990 but refused to hand over power to the National League for Democracy (NLD; the main opposition party led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the daughter of Myanmar's national hero General Aung San) which won some 80 per cent of the seats. The junta that reconstituted itself in 1997 as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) oversaw the drafting of a new constitution by way of a fourteen-year long process in which a handpicked National Convention was tasked to formulate its detailed principles.