Introduction
Regional legislatures (regional hluttaws) are very new institutions in the history of Myanmar. They have been established by the 2008 Constitution adopted by the previous military regime. Myanmar practiced two constitutions beforehand and none of them had any provision about regional legislative bodies. In the 2008 Constitution, the establishment of the regional hluttaws and regional governments has been mentioned and the regional level governing bodies have to enact necessary laws and exercise the power in particular affairs stated in the schedule two, region or state legislative list. This research will be focusing on the relations between the competency of the regional hluttaws and the capability of the regional governments in assuming the power from the central government. The research will be based on the studies of the performance of the regional hluttaws in the first five years term between 2011 and 2015.
Hypothesis and Research Questions
“There is a strong relation between the competency of the regional hluttaws and the capabilities of the regional governments. The more the regional hluttaws could enact laws for implementing the affairs stated in the schedule two of the constitution, the much power the regional governments could assume from the central government.”
Given the above hypothesis, the research is going to look for the answers to the following questions.
· What was the role of the regional Hluttaws in assuming the power granted by the constitution?
· Were they significant in terms of implementing the reform process of Myanmar? If so, why?
· What are the factors which supported or hindered the performance of the regional hluttaws?
· To what extent do the regional hluttaws contribute to the power sharing between the central government and the regional governments?
Significance of the Questions
These questions are very important to assess how many laws the regional hluttaws could enact and how much power the regional governments could enjoy. The constitution said that the regional governments shall exercise the power in the affairs stated in the schedule two, regional or state legislative lists. One important reason is that the share of power vested in the regional governments could not be exercised unless the respective regional hluttaw enacts necessary laws. Therefore the competency of the regional hluttaws is very important for the regional governments in exercising the share of power guaranteed by the constitution. In addition to that, there are certain factors which supported the performance of the regional hluttaws, as well as some hindrance factors which discouraged the enactment of laws in the previous five year term.
My Argument
Constitutionally, regional hluttaws play very important role in assuming the share of power from the central government, but their actual performance in the first term was unsatisfactory due to some limitations. The biggest limitation would be the mindset of the stakeholders in the regional level administrative and legislative bodies. Since the regional governments practice Westminster model democratic system, most of the cabinet members are members of regional hluttaws. The ministers of the regional governments could not exercise the power to manage the respective affairs because no or very few laws could be enacted by regional hluttaws to activate the provision of the constitution which gives them an authority to manage some regional affairs. Consequently, the regional governments could not fully enjoy the sharing power of the state, and it hinders the reform process of the country. The level of competency of the regional hluttaws was different from one another. In some regions, the government could collect some taxes because their hluttaws had enacted laws for those matters, but not in other regions. If the competency of the regional hluttaws were high enough to enact necessary laws for implementing the affairs in the schedule two, then it would enforce the capacity of the regional governments, and again it could speed up the reform process and democratization of Myanmar.
Methodology
Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be applied in the research. Firstly, the necessary data will be collected from the original and open sources. The data includes the laws enacted by the regional hluttaws, the list of MPs and their parties, the frequency of convening hluttaw sessions, the list of committees they founded and their performance, the number of staff supported, and so on.
Secondly, the leadership of the speakers, the relationship between the speakers and the chief ministers, the support of the MPs to the speakers and their relationships, and the support of the professionals to the legislative process will be analyzed by making personal interview, visiting the regional hluttaws, reading their speeches, and so on.
After that, the factors which support or hinder the performance of the regional hluttaws will be discovered by analyzing the above data and information. When analyzing the subjective information such as personal interviews and speeches, I will try to make sure that the overstatement and understatement information are managed tactically.
Limitations of the Research
There might be some limitations on doing the research. The biggest limitation might be a financial issue. Since this research is looking for important factors which influence the performance of the regional hluttaws, I need to go and see those important persons and visit the hluttaws. There are 14 regional hluttaws in different parts of Myanmar, and I need some money for the expense of traveling and accommodation. Another limitation might be the time I could take to arrange the trips, to make an appointment with some important persons, and to do my paperwork. There might be some other unexpected limitations. Anyway, all the limitations will be stated in my final research paper.
Conclusions
I am personally really interested in this topic and I am willing to do this research because the capabilities of the regional governments should be much more than it actually was in the previous five years, and I am eager to know why they could not do what they were supposed to have done in the first term from 2011 to 2015. I believe that the current constitution grants much authority to the regional governments, and the regional governments have enough power to implement a great reform which could satisfy the local people. My research will be a good contribution to the legislative process of the future regional hluttaws in enacting laws for enhancing the reform process and democratization of Myanmar.
Reference
Downs, W. M. (1998). Coalition government, subnational style: multiparty politics in Europe's regional parliaments. The Ohio State University Press.
Rodden, J. (2004). Comparative federalism and decentralization: On meaning and measurement. Comparative Politics, 481-500.
The Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (2008)
Professor’s Comment
The paper focuses on a question that is important in the academic field and highly relevant to a real-world issue. The description is clear, the discussions are insightful, and the proposed method of investigation makes sense.
