The Committee was formed earlier this year to seek solutions to issues within the constitution in preparation for the 2015 general election. It has requested assessment and advice from the country’s political parties, organizations, and individuals.

Aye Mauk, a Lower House MP from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the secretary of the Parliamentary Joint Review Committee, stated that the USDP plans to submit their suggestions based on the results of intra-party group meetings regarding the constitution.

“We will combine and negotiate these results, and then our party’s central committee will make the final decision on what we submit,” he added. “We plan to send our suggestion letter around 21 November.”

National League for Democracy (NLD) Central Executive Committee member Win Myint said that his party is currently conducting extensive reviews of nationwide constitutional issues that will postpone the submission of their recommendations until late December.  

The results of the NLD’s constitutional assessments have so far yielded the conclusion that the public generally favors amending the constitution over rewriting it.  

Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP) vice-chairman Sai Saung Si stated that although the SNDP is ready to present their suggestions for reform, they will wait until the submission deadline in case any political or social developments alter their proposals.  

Most of Myanmar’s political figureheads agree that that amending the constitution is crucial for the successful development of a federal union.

Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) chairman Aye Maung supports this notion and noted that his party’s suggestions are focused primarily on federal union provisions.

Once their suggestions are submitted, all the political parties can do is wait for feedback from the Constitution Review Joint Committee.

 “We will keep a close eye on what this Committee will amend and what they will not amend,” Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) chairman Aye Thar Aung said.

He added that the ALD has no plans to submit their counsels to the Review Joint Committee.

The Federal Union Party (FUP) announced that they also will not send a letter of suggestion; however, the Nationalities Brotherhood Federation (NBF), the parent party of the FUP, will.

Aye Mauk divulged to Mizzima that the Constitution Review Joint Committee has already received over 240 suggestion letters.

The deadline for submissions is 31 January, recently extended from 31 December.