Myanmar Burma
Update 2015: Making Sense of Conflict
5 – 6 June 2015, Australian National University,
Canberra
As rapid political, economic and social change in
Myanmar continues, the next Myanmar (Burma) Update conference at the Australian
National University will occur on Friday, 5 June and Saturday, 6 June 2015,
ahead of the general elections anticipated for later in the year. Hosted by the
Department of Political and Social Change, in the School of International,
Political and Strategic Studies, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, the
conference has as its theme “Making Sense of Conflict”.
Since the last conference in 2013, Myanmar has
succeeded in making progress on many key economic and social reforms, and in
certain areas of institution building. At the same time, political, social and
armed conflict persists, and in some parts of the country has increased
considerably. The continuation of long-standing conflicts in Myanmar raises questions about their persistence and the prospects of efforts to resolve them. Other non-traditional conflicts also are emerging, and are cause for significant concern.
The conference aims to address the breadth and
depth of conflicts in Myanmar from a range of angles, offering perspectives of
people working on the ground and those studying the country abroad. It presents
an opportunity for scholars and practitioners to draw on their research and
work in studying and addressing conflict in Myanmar to probe its many layers,
and consider the means by which conflict might be resolved. It also enables
presenters to draw upon discussions had at the 2013 Update on “Debating
Democratisation”, and builds on the outcomes of an event that the ANU held in
Myanmar during March 2014, on the theme of communal conflict.
My own presentation will be on "Legislating Reform? Law and Conflict in Myanmar". The abstract of the talk is as follows: Legal and constitutional change often occurs at moments of political
crisis. Since the political transition in 2011, efforts of the parliament and
civil society have focused on a range of legal and constitutional reforms in
Myanmar. This paper will reflect on the past five years of law reform in
Myanmar in the broader context of legal reforms undertake since the end of
socialist rule in 1988. While many have analysed the personalities and parties
in politics, little attention has been paid to the policies and laws that have
been passed. First, constitutional amendment has been a critical demand over
the past few years, as concerns that the military retain its role in governance
rub against demands for a more democratic future. In early 2015 a law was
passed regulating referendums for constitutional amendment, although this comes
without clear agreement on what proposals for reform should be put to a
referendum. Second, there has been an increase in legislative reforms in
parliament on a diverse range of areas. I identifies three themes in law-making:
functional reforms to implement the
new constitutional and political system, though most added little to the text
of the Constitution itself; economic and
business reforms largely geared towards actual or perceived efforts at greater
foreign investment, including on banking, the establishment of special economic
zones, and Company Law; and social
reforms that affect civil society such as on labor, the media and freedom
of assembly. This paper will analyse the extent to which these legislative
changes have contributed to the broader process of political reform, and to
political and social conflict. It concludes that these two areas–
constitutional amendment and legislative reform - demonstrate a struggle
between the imagined past and future visions, and highlight the way in which
law remains a source and site of conflict in Myanmar.
