253 THE NEED FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL SETTLEMENT TO FURTHER THE REFORM PROCESS IN MYANMAR (BURMA) Janelle Saffin & Nathan Willis* I. INTRODUCTION During her visit to Australia in November 2013, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi — now a Myanmar legislator—stood on the center stage of the Sydney Opera House facing an applauding crowd of Australians who stood with her through the many years of her struggle for a democratic, pluralistic, tolerant, and free Myanmar. Amidst the crowd‘s well-placed applause and laughter in her honor, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi made a statement on that day that we consider key. She said: ―So this present government[,] which is in part through the 2010 elections[,] is carrying out the seventh part of [its] road map . . . by which th[is] government will bring Burma to what they described as disciplined democracy. Now that‘s very suspect.‖ We agree. We approach this article with some combined thirty-five years of experience in engaging with Myanmar and her people. Given this experience, we know that Myanmar has an unpredictable future. We also know there are some who have attempted to pre-determine that future. Over the last sixty plus years in Myanmar, since the 1947 Panglong Agreement, 3 there has been considerable effort to create a bona fide and lasting constitutional system of government. However, these efforts —evidenced from the 1947, 1974, and 2008 constitutions—have failed because of structural weaknesses. The main weakness has been the imbalance of power between the military government and the numerous ethnic minority groups. As Daw Aung San Suu Kyi raised in her suspicion of the military-led government, this plan to create ―disciplined democracy‖ appears as merely another unilateral and superficial effort. It is more akin to the past failings that seek to appease and maintain control * Janelle Saffin is a lawyer, activist, and politician. She is an active member of the Burma Lawyers‘ Council and has extensive experience in legal and constitutional matters regarding Myanmar. Nathan Willis holds degrees from Southern Cross University, Tabor College, and the Australian National University. He received his Juris Doctor at the University of Southern Queensland. He has over ten years of experience with ongoing involvement in Myanmar and spent three years there as an aid worker. 1. This article will use the term Myanmar rather than Burma, as this is currently in greater use within the international community. 2. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Address at the Sydney Opera House (Nov. 28, 2013) (transcript available at http://newsroom.uts.edu.au/news/2013/11/aung-san-suu-kyi-addresses-the-sydney- opera-house) (describing that the military government created a seven step roadmap to bring about democracy, which included holding free and fair elections; adding that the U.N. admits that the elections held in 2010 were flawed). 3. The Panglong Agreement was drafted by U Pe Khin. The Panglong Agreement emerged from a process that included two meetings (one in Chin State and another in Shan State) in 1946.