Category Archives: Burma

August 1, 2012 · 01:54

Myanmar state minister challenges law

[I had meant to post this on July 17, but it apparently was never uploaded. I apologize if this has already become old news]

Myanmar’s Constitutional Tribunal received its third case in 2012, and looks to mark another first for the court. The Mon State Hluttaw Speaker has challenged a law as unconstitutional. This is the first time a state or region official has asked the tribunal to strike down a law. The New Light of Myanmar article doesn’t mention which law is being challenged. All I know so far is that the law is a Mon State law – as expected given that all of the tribunal judges are appointed by the Union government and would be unlikely to rule against the national government. Nonetheless, this will be the court’s first “federalism” decision so it will be interesting to see how it handles the petition.

The full article is reprinted below:

Constitutional Tribunal of the State hears enquiry

The Mon State Hluttaw Speaker has asked through the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker to the Constitutional Tribunal of the Union to interpret the following: whether the legislation of the State Hluttaw in accordance with Schedule (2) of Section 188 of the Constitution under Section 326 (b) of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Union Law is against the Section 446 of the Constitution or not, or whether the legislation shall be done without violation of the Section 446 of the Constitution; in case some existing laws and some provisions in the existing laws are different from and/or ambiguously confused with provisions in Schedule (2) of the Section 188 of the Constitution, whether these laws and provisions shall be still in effect as they are not revoked or amended yet; if some existing laws and some provisions in the existing laws are different from and/or ambiguously confused with provisions in Schedule (2) of the Section 188 of the Constitution, proceedings can be made only after revoking or amending in accordance with Section 446 of the Constitution. The tribunal comprising Chairman of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Union and all its members heard the document No. 3/2012 at Room No. 1 at 10 am this morning.—MNA

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June 7, 2012 · 08:24

Myanmar Constitutional Tribunal website!

It’s here – the Myanmar Constitutional Tribunal has a new website: http://www.ctmyanmar.org.mm/. Not only that, it has English versions of its 2011 cases as well. As of now, the site is only in Burmese, but an English translation is expected soon. I’ve read both of the 2011 cases and thought they were actually quite interesting and had surprisingly good legal reasoning, especially given the lack of any sort of constitutional jurisprudence in the country for the past 50 years. I’ll write more about the cases at some point in the future – for now, enjoy the new website.

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May 26, 2012 · 17:16

More Chinese linkages with Myanmar’s courts

Every once in a while I see articles in The New Light of Myanmar about Myanmar judges meeting with Chinese judges. The visits are obviously public and official, as they are reported in the news. It’d be interested to see whether these visits are part of a a broader engagement. China has undertaken several judicial reform projects, but interestingly still managed to keep the judiciary both formally and informally under the Communist Party. On the one hand, given the pace of political reforms in Myanmar today, it’s hard to believe the government views China’s judiciary as a model. On the other hand, China’s successes in professionalizing judges might hold powerful lessons for Myanmar.

The most recent of these articles is below:

Chief Justice of Yangon Region High Court receives Vice-President of Yunnan Provincial Supreme People’s Court

YANGON, 21 May- At the invitation of U Win Swe, Chief Justice of Yangon Region High Court, a delegation led by Mr Wang Shuliang, Vice-President of the Yunnan Provincial Supreme People’s Court currently in Myanmar paid a call on the Chief Justice of Yangon Region High Court and justices at region chief justice hall this morning.


They discussed judicial affairs and also studied criminal cases.-MNA



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April 30, 2012 · 23:27

Constitutional Tribunal aftermath (Myanmar/Burma)

A few weeks ago, the Myanmar Constitutional Tribunal issued its third ruling, namely that Hluttaw committees are not union-level organizations. At the time, I was puzzled over the import of the decision. Fortunately, Soe Than Lynn at The Myanmar Times has written a story about the reaction to the decision in the Hluttaw. According to the article:

Lawmakers have interpreted the ruling – and the wrangling that preceded it – as an attempt to reduce parliamentary oversight of government activities.

He also discusses some of the background to the litigation. Some MPs even suggested a constitutional amendment to enshrine the status of committees as union-level organizations.

Unfortunately, the article still doesn’t really explain why the ruling would reduce the Hluttaw’s power. In my earlier post, I’d speculated that the real impact might be that union-level organizations must have their budgets reviewed by the vice-president. Still, it seems that my initial impression was correct in that the tribunal seems to have become a key forum for resolving disputes between the other two branches of government

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April 27, 2012 · 20:39

Judicial Corruption Inquiry (Myanmar/Burma)

It seems once more the Hluttaw is moving to reform Myanmar’s justice sector where the judges themselves cannot or will not. According to Irrawaddy, the Judicial Committee, formed last September, has already received 500 complaints from citizens about the abuse in the courts. On Tuesday, the lower house (Pyithu Hluttaw) passed a law granting the committee with the power to investigate these complaints.

We also got an interesting glimmer into the relationship between the judiciary and parliament. While not quite as testy as that between the Philippine Congress and Supreme Court (see here), it’s clear the Myanmar Supreme Court doesn’t entirely welcome the Hluttaw’s proposal. According to Irrawaddy:

Thein Nyunt, a respected MP and lawyer, said, “I rejected the presentation of the Union Supreme Court Judge which could undermine the core meaning of the [investigation powers] proposal, and all the MPs supported my views.”

As I’ve mentioned before, I think the Hluttaw is taking the right approach. It’s important to reform the courts before granting them independence. However, from the proposal currently on the table, it appears the Judicial Commission will focus on “naming and shaming” judges, but will lack enforcement powers. This can still be quite effective if done right. Singapore is infamous for using public humiliation as a punishment.

However, it’s not clear this strategy will work without a free media. In one of the few articles to look at judicial accountability, Stefan Voigt (2008) argues that media freedom encourages judicial accountability by exposing corrupt practices in court. With a free media and open hearings, journalists can sit in on cases and report on the progress of the case. While Myanmar’s media is becoming freer, it isn’t quite yet free enough, particularly for journalists to report on big judicial corruption cases. Also, a free press will be needed to press the Judicial Commission on its investigations and make the guardian of the guardians accountable.

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