NAYPYIDAW – Myanmar’s new junta-dominated parliament opened on Monday as lawmakers assembled in secrecy following a widely panned election for the country’s first legislative session since the late 1980s. No foreign media representatives were allowed to witness the event or even take photographs of the new parliament building where elected and designated lawmakers convened in the military regime’s purpose-built capital, Naypyidaw.
Police manned checkpoints and barricades leading up to the chambers, where lawmakers began to appoint senior roles after the session began, as planned, at exactly 8:55 am (0225 GMT). The timing — almost certainly a product of the regime’s penchant for astrology — was just one aspect of the new parliament peculiar to a nation that has withered under the iron grip of military rule since 1962.
Myanmar activists and analysts were divided over whether Monday’s opening heralded at least a small step towards positive political change or simply consolidated the power of the military behind a semblance of civilian rule.
