Fourth-day meeting of Second Amyotha Hluttaw’s 9th regular session held

The second Amyotha Hluttaw’s ninth regular session held its fourth-day meeting at the Amyotha Hluttaw meeting hall yesterday morning, where a proposal to donate a day’s allowance of the Amyotha Hluttaw representatives to flood-affected people was made, asterisk-marked questions asked and answered and a bill discussed.

A day’s allowance of Hluttaw representatives donated to flood-affected people

First, Amyotha Hluttaw Speaker Mahn Win Khaing Than proposed donating a day’s allowance of Amyotha Hluttaw representatives to people in states and regions of Myanmar, affected by flooding and inundation caused by heavy rains. An announcement of the Hluttaw approving the proposal was made after Hluttaw’s approval was obtained.

Open Government Partnership membership

Replying to the first asterisk-marked question posed by U Soe Thein of Kayah State constituency 9 on plans to becoming a member of Open Government Partnership, Deputy Minister for State Counsellor’s Office U Khin Maung Tin said Myanmar started the process of becoming a member of Open Government Partnership (OGP) after OGP proposed it in 2013. At the moment, Myanmar is not aiming toward becoming a member of OGP, but the work of the government is in accord with norms set by OGP, said the Deputy Minister.

From the financial side, financial information was published according to the budget year. In order to be transparent in obtaining international aid, Myanmar is striving toward becoming a member of International Aid Transparency Initiative. A website is being hosted using Aid Information Management System, in order to be transparent in obtaining assistance and support from development partner countries. Financial information of Myanmar for five years, from fiscal year 2012-2013 to 2016-2017, was posted on the Ministry of Planning and Finance website. To be transparent in extractive sector and inflow of tax money to the country, second and third EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) reports were submitted, posted and announced in Myanmar EITI website and the Ministry of Planning and Finance website. On Access to Information, the Ministry of Information is broadcasting on television channels. It is also broadcasted in 17 ethnic national languages. The ministry is publishing two Myanmar and one English daily newspapers. Myanmar Digital News is broadcasted from News Portal through MOI web portal Myanmar Facebook, website (Myanmar, English) MOI Blog and MOI Twitter.

The Ministry of Information had discussed the Right of Access to Information Bill eleven times and had drawn it up with 14 chapters and 68 clauses and is working toward enacting it. 46 newspapers, 542 journals, 444 magazines and 107 news agencies were being permitted for the private media sector of which 26 newspapers, 219 journals and 210 magazines were being published.

In addition to this, the present government is working towards successfully implementing an e-Government system in Myanmar and had formed an e-Government steering committee and implementation work committee with President Office notification 14/2018 and was implementing it, setting priority projects and working toward having a complete ICT support plan.

The incumbent government had enacted the fourth amendment to the Anti-Corruption Law on 21 June 2018, formed the Anti-Corruption Commission on 23 November 2017 and conducting anti-corruption work. Furthermore, an announcement was made by the Office of the President on 8 May 2018 about the President submitting his assets and values to Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker in accordance with the Constitution. Similarly, with the approval of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the list of assets and values of the Union level persons previously appointed and additionally appointed were being submitted to the President in accordance with the Union Government Law.

On the cooperation and participation of the people, NGOs and INGOs, together with civil society organisations are participating in the government’s Sector Coordination Groups (SCGs). Representatives of ethnic nationals, civil society organisations, economic organisations, experts and people who ought to participate were also participating in the Union Peace Conference-21st Century Panglong.

The Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development (UEHRD) in Rakhine State committee project work groups were formed with civilian experts, while 351 youth volunteers were conducting it. Myanmar National Committee for Women’s Affairs formed to implement women’s development work was reformed as All-Myanmar Women’s Affairs Committee. This committee is reporting to UNCEDAW (United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) committee once every four years, implementing notifications, implementing ASEAN women’s affairs committee work programme 2016-2020, implementing Gender Issues included in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and full participation of women in Myanmar society. As such, it is clear that even though Myanmar is not a member of Open Government Partnership (OGP), it is conducting and implementing work that are according to the norms of OGP. The former government also had abolished the OGP steering committee and work committee before power was transferred to the incumbent government. Matters that were not revoked, rescinded or abolished could be restarted and worked on if need to. But it is not possible to restart matters that are revoked, rescinded or abolished and thus there is no plan to become a member of OGP, replied the deputy minister.

Asterisk-marked questions posed by U Tet Tun Aung of Rakhine State constituency 2, U Wai Sein Aung of Rakhine State constituency 1, U Myint Naing of Rakhine State constituency 5 and U Khin Maung Latt of Rakhine State constituency 3 were then answered by Deputy Minister for Education U Win Maw Tun.

Discussion on Traditional Medicine Council Bill

After the question and answer session, U Hla Oo of Sagaing Region constituency 4, U Htay Oo of Yangon Region constituency 2 and Dr. Kyaw Than Tun (Canton) of Mandalay Region constituency 3 discussed the Traditional Medicine Council Bill. The fifth-day meeting of the second Amyotha Hluttaw’s ninth regular session will be continued today, it is learnt.

Aung Ye Thwin (MNA)

Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar