Myanmar Legislature

Slide 1

Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

I am Bo Kaung.

First of all, I would like to say thank you Mr.John for asking me to present this topic, and Ms. Pearl for giving us a chance to make a presentation in the class.

Slide 2

Before I say anything about the topic, may I raise a question for you.

“How many types of legislative bodies are there in Myanmar?

(The audience may reply the question. Acknowledge the answers and say thank you.)

 

Slide 3

There are three types of legislative bodies in Myanmar. They are-

·       Union Parliament

·       Region and State Parliaments

·       SAD and SAZ Leading Bodies

 

Slide 4

Union Parliament is called Pyidaungsu Hluttaw and it comprises the two houses:

·       The Upper House (Amyotha Hluttaw) and

·       The Lower House (Pyithu Hluttaw).

The Union Parliament has the right to enact law for the entire or any part of the Union related to matters prescribed in Schedule One of the Union Legislative List.

 

Slide 5

The Upper House (Amyotha Hluttaw) is formed with an equal number of 12 representatives elected from each Region or State including one representative from each SAD or SAZ.

12 representative * 14 Regions/States = 168 representatives PLUS one third Defence Services Personnel nominated by the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services. The number of them is 56. There is a maximum of  224 MPs in the Upper House.

 

Slide 6

The Lower House (Pyithu Hluttaw) is formed with not more than 330 representatives elected from each township constituency. PLUS one third DSP 110. There is a maximum number of 440 MPs in the Lower House.

 

Slide 7

Let’s look at the functions of the Houses. In this section, I am going to talk about the Speaker and Deputy Speaker; submitting, discussing and resolving Bills and Proposals; raising and replying Questions; and forming Committees and Commissions.

 

Slide 8

          Each house has a Speaker and Deputy Speaker who are elected by the respective MPs. Therefore, they can also be suspended by MPs also.

The Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Upper House takes the role of Union Parliament Speaker and Deputy Speaker for the half of the Term (30 months) and that of the Lower House take the second term of the Union Parliament.

The Speaker supervises the sessions and they exercise casting vote if necessary, which means the Speaker does not vote in the Parliament. The Speaker votes in the matter of an equality of votes, for and against.

 

Slide 9

I am going to talk about the submission of Bills to the Parliament. The budget bills and tax bills have to be submitted to the Union Parliament only by the Union Government.

Other bills can be submitted by MPs and Union Govt. Both Houses can initiate the other bills. One house discusses, resolves and sends the bill to the other House.

 

Slide 10

          After the bill has been approved by both Houses, it is deemed that the bill is approved by the Union Parliament. Then the bill is sent to the President. If the President is happy with the bill, he signs it and the bill becomes a law. If the President is not happy with the bill, he can send back the bill to the Union Parliament together with his comments within 14 days. Otherwise, the bill becomes law after that period even if the President does not sign it.

          The Union Parliament receives back the bill and discusses the comments of the President. The Parliament may agree to the comments of the President and may make some changes in the bill OR may not agree to the comments and resolves its original version.

          Then the bill is sent back to the President for the second time. This time the President has 7 days to sign the bill. After 7 days, the bill becomes law whether the President signs it or not.

 

Slide 11

Let’s move on to the Proposal section.

Proposal can be submitted by MPs only. When a proposal is submitted, the House decides whether to discuss the Proposal. If the House agrees to discuss it, it is discussed and make a resolution on it. Then the resolution is sent to the Govt or other respective institutions so that they can implement the resolution of the Parliament.

 

Slide 12

Concerning the Questions, the MPs can raise Questions to the Union Level Organizations and they have to reply the Questions. If a question is marked by a *, it has to be replied in the Parliament verbally. If the question is not marked by a *, it can be replied black and white. The first one hour of the plenary session is for raising and replying Questions.

 

Slide 13

Let me share something about the Committees and Commissions of the Houses. Committees are formed with the MPs. There are four standing Committees. They are Public Account; Parliament Rights; Government Guarantees, Pledges and Undertaking Vetting Committees. There are also other Temporary Committees and Joint Committees of the two Houses.

The Houses can also form Commissions with MPs and non-MPs.

The Committees and Commissions study the necessary affairs and submit reports.

 

Slide 14

          Region and State Parliaments are formed with two representatives elected from each township constituency; one representative from each national race having 0.1 % of Union population other than those who have already obtained the respective Region or State; and one third Defense Services Personnel.

          Region and State Parliament have the right to enact law for the entire or any part of the Region or State related to matters prescribed in Schedule Two of the Region and State Parliament Legislative List.

 

Slide 15

SAD or SAZ Leading Body must be at least 10 members. It is formed with Region or State Parliament MPs elected from township in the SAD/SAZ concerned, one from each national race in the area having the population of 10,000 and above, and one third Defense Services Personnel.

SAD/SAZ Leading Bodies have the right to enact laws related to the matters prescribed in Schedule Three of the SAD/SAZ Leading Body Legislative List.

 

Slide 16

          These are some other noteworthy information of Myanmar Parliamentary system.

Each Parliament has a term of five years and the maximum interval between sessions is 12 months. Generally, the Houses exercise simple majority voting system. The people has a right to recall the MPs.

When a Bill or a Proposal is discussing in a House, the respective authority has to explain, converse and discuss the matter concerned.

          The MPs and other attendees have freedom of speech and voting at the plenary session, committees and commissions meetings. No action shall be taken against a MPs and other attendees except under its law.

 

Slide 17

To sum up,

In my presentation, I have talked about the types, formation and functions of the Legislative Bodies and procedure of enacting a law. Moreover, other noteworthy information are also discussed.

 

If you are curious to know something more about Myanmar Legislature, I will be happy to help you.

Thank you Mr.John and Ms.Pearl.

Thank you all our comrades.
In conclusion, I would like to urge and encourage all our friends to read the constitution thoroughly and critically so that you will come to know which is good, suitable, workable, too good, bad or too bad and which is to be amended. And you will be able to know which is the best for building a good nation for all of us.
Thank you for your active participation.