Changes in Burma’s name, flags and the state seal enacted yesterday have left residents of northern Arakan State bewildered days ahead of next month’s general election, said a politician from ...
Maungdaw, Arakan State: Changes in Burma’s name, flags and the state seal enacted yesterday have left residents of northern Arakan State bewildered days ahead of next month’s general election, said a politician from Maungdaw.
The state media announced yesterday that the country’s new official name would be the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. A new national flag was unveiled, a new national anthem composed and there is now a new official seal.
The changes were first outlined in the country’s 2008 constitution but no date was fixed for its implementation. International media reports quoted unnamed Burmese officials as saying even they were caught off guard by the changes.
“We were surprised by the changes ahead of the ensuing election and we don’t understand the reason behind it,” an elder in Maungdaw told Kaladan Press over mobile phone.
The new flag has a horizontal band of light green on top, a dark green band in the middle, and a red band at the bottom, as well as a white star in the middle, state media reported, though no explanation of the meaning of the design was given.
Burma’s ruling military junta, which seized power in a 1962 coup, last changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, following the widespread pro-democracy protests, which were crushed and just prior to the country’s last election in 1990.
Pro-democracy leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy swept the 1990 polls but were denied power. She has spent most of the last 21 years in prison or under house arrest.
The changes have led some in Arakan State to question whether the November 7 election, one of the steps in the ruling junta’s ‘Roadmap to Democracy,’ will lead to substantive political reforms.
“We believed that the situation in Burma would improve after November 7, but it’s impossible because of the changes,” said a businessman from Maungdaw.
The state-controlled New Light of Myanmar reported that ceremonies marking the changes were held simultaneously in military commands, ministries and central offices in the capital Naypyidaw, as well as in offices of the state and regional Peace and Development Councils.
Burma’s Prime Minister and staff members saluted the new flag during a ceremony as the guard of honour played the new national anthem, according to the state media.
