“It is the truth that she will become the future leader of the country”, Than Shwe was quoted as saying at the meeting with Suu Kyi.
Advertisement
Top Photo – ( Reuters ) Pro-democracy activists carry mock ballot boxes with pictures of Aung San Suu Kyi, left, and then junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe during a protest against Burma’s 2010 general election in front of the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok on November 7, 2010.
“Than Shwe is believed to still wield influence in the government and the military to some degree, and this is why Suu Kyi chose to meet with him”, Win Htain said, adding, “The NLD has been asking consistently for political dialogue since 1989”.
“I will support her with all of my efforts”, Nay Shwe Thway Aung quoted Than Shwe as saying in a statement posted on Facebook late on Saturday.
The NLD has been seeking an amendment to the constitution to allow Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, whose two sons are British nationals, from becoming the next president.
“Any attempt to change the 2008 Constitution would put the NLD on a direct collision course with the military, for among the charter’s “Basic Principles” is a strong pledge: ‘The Defence Services is mainly responsible for safeguarding the Constitution'”.
Although he no longer has an official role, many analysts are convinced he pulls the government strings when it comes to major decisions on which direction Myanmar should take. But though he has been out of the public eye since 2011, many in Myanmar are convinced he remains politically involved behind the scenes.
Cardinal Charles Bo, Archbishop of Yangon explained to UCANEWS that if Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy that won the November 8 election, really wants to fulfil the desire of the people she should follow the desire of the ethnic Kachin people.
Suu Kyi, 70, is barred from the presidency by an army-scripted constitution, but has said she will govern from “above the president” when her party take their seats in the new year.
He transferred power in 2011 to a reformist, quasi-civilian government run by his inner circle.
Suu Kyi’s ties with the generals have warmed since she joined parliament in 2012, but were tested when the NLD gathered 5 million signatures in a petition urging lawmakers to vote to remove the military’s legislative veto.
Advertisement
She held talks on Wednesday with Thein Sein, a former junta general and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the military chief and Than Shwe’s protege. “The significance of this note is… they signed only before they became the head of the country or while they were head of the country”, it said, without elaboration. It enshrines a power-sharing arrangement between the armed forces and an elected ruling party, regardless of the size of its public mandate.
