General Kyaw Phyu said that reforming Burma’s constitution is the first step towards lasting peace in the multi-ethnic country: “Since the country consists of different ethnic races, we have to have a united political goal for everyone in the country,” he said, concluding that “Currently, therefore, our greatest concern regarding the future of Burma is that the 2008 constitution, which was ratified by the previous government, is reformed.”

The KNLA general maintained that undemocratic provisions in the current constitution, including laws that prohibit Daw Suu from becoming president and provisions that guarantee Burma’s control of parliament, are a major obstacle to the peace process.

“We can only look forward as ethnic minorities in Burma once there have been democratic amendments to the constitution – the future of ethnic nationalities and indeed all of Burma’s people will be better after this has happened – it is the most important factor. At the moment, all of the ethnic groups are united in opposition to the current constitution,” he said.

General Kyaw Phyu urged that people with an interest in creating a democratic Burma should act together in pushing for democratic reforms, saying that “Burma comprises different ethnic nationalities, so we cannot set our own goals just for our own ethnic group.”

The KNLA general’s concerns echoed the comments made by UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, who warned in one of his last addresses before the end of his six-year tenure that the constitution threatened the country’s future.

In an official statement on May 23rd, Quintana said “Leaving the military with an effective veto over constitutional changes, among others, does not augur well with Myanmar’s democratic ambitions, especially leading up to the 2015 elections.” Quintana also insisted that “The right of the people of Myanmar to choose their own Government and President must also be respected and upheld.”

David Scott Mathieson, Human Rights Watch’s senior researcher on Burma, went further than Quintana in maintaining that the current constitution was inherently illegitimate.

“Burma’s 2008 Constitution isn’t legitimate in any meaningful way,” he said in an interview with Karen News. “It was drafted largely by the military after it had staged a coup d’état; excluded many important ethnic voices in its drafting; was written whilst many legitimate political parties had their leaders incarcerated or exiled; includes numerous provisions that preserve military political and economic power; and was passed by a nationwide referendum with an incredulous result by a population that knew little about the document, let alone had read it.”

Mathieson noted that the constitution stood in the way of peace between the central government and ethnic nationalities: “The constitution is an obstacle, but its more how it’s being used an instrument by the military and its ruling party, the USDP, to limit legitimate political aspirations by ethnic nationalities for greater federalism, and that is why it’s standing in the way of peace and democracy,” he said.

Mathieson expressed particular concern about the constitutional chapter which he said preserves “substantial military power, including control over its budget, immunity from civilian prosecution, and extraordinary powers for the Commander-in-Chief,” adding that “There is also very undemocratic provisions throughout such as the 25 percent preserved seats for serving officers, key ministerial portfolios, the provisions to choose a president, and the emergency provisions contained in Chapter 13. All in all, it’s a document designed to preserve military interests, not guarantee democracy.”

As chairwoman of the National League of Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi has been actively leading efforts to amend the 2008 constitution since last year. Most recently, the NLD and the Generation 88 Generation Peace and Open Society launched a nationwide petition campaign last week aimed at putting pressure on the military-backed government to reform the constitution.

Daw Suu often says that reforms in Burma can’t be taken seriously while the constitution remained unchanged. At a speech in Australia last November, the Democratic Voice of Burma quoted Daw Suu as saying that “Those of you who think that Burma has successfully taken the path to reform, would be mistaken… If you want to know why you are mistaken, you only have to study the Burmese constitution, not a pleasant task I can tell you. But if you read it carefully, you will understand why we cannot have genuine democracy under such a constitution.”

In spite of mounting criticism that time is running out before the 2015 election, President U Thein Sein has said that amendments to the constitution can only take place under the “right conditions”—that is,  after the government has reached agreements with Burma’s ethnic minorities as part of the peace process.

“Agreements reached during the political dialogue stage, an important aspect of the peace process, will require amendments to the Constitution,” the president was quoted as saying in a radio address to the nation last week, according to an English translation of his speech in the New Light of Myanmar, a government-owned newspaper. “At the same time, to see the emergence of the open and free society that we desire, we must strive to amend the constitution to comply with democratic norms and values,” he added.