Author: Melissa Crouch, NUS

Major changes have already been made to the legal system in Myanmar over the last two years.

The next 10 years will be crucial to the country’s transition to a democratic legal system. As the reform process progresses, there is an urgent need for a new generation of law graduates capable of contributing to the development and consolidation of the law reform process.

In August 2012, it was announced that undergraduate degrees would begin to be offered once again by the University of Yangon and Mandalay University. This new cohort of students, to begin in December 2013, will include 15 LLB students in each of the law departments. These changes raise key challenges when considered in light of the history of legal education and the tertiary sector.

by Agence France-Presse

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – The Dalai Lama on Tuesday, September 17, urged Myanmar monks to act according to their Buddhist principles, in a plea to end the deadly violence against the country’s Muslim minority.

“Those Burmese monks, please, when they develop some kind of anger towards Muslim brothers and sisters, please, remember the Buddhist faith,” the Buddhist leader told reporters at an annual human rights conference in the Czech capital Prague.

“I am sure (…) that would protect those Muslim brothers and sisters who are becoming victims,” Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader said.

By NEHGINPAO KIPGEN

Today (September 18) marks the 25th anniversary of the last military takeover in Myanmar in 1988. That was the third major military intervention in the country’s political history since its independence. At that time, the country was still officially called Burma. The government changed it to Myanmar the following year.

The military’s first intervention was in 1958 when civilian prime minister U Nu invited the military to form a caretaker government, stabilize the country and hold general elections. The then army commander-in-chief General Ne Win acted as interim prime minister.

By Robert Muller

PRAGUE (Reuters) – Myanmar needs to change its constitution as fast as possible to put the country firmly on the path to democracy, Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of the country’s democratic opposition Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in last year’s parliamentary by-elections, giving her a seat in parliament.

But the 68-year old faces a tough challenge to have the constitution changed to push on with reforms and to allow her to run for presidency in 2015.

“We need to amend the present constitution that we may truly become a democratic country. This constitution is anti-democratic,” Suu Kyi told reporters after attending a conference in Prague.

By SAN YAMING AUNG / THE IRRAWADDY

RANGOON—A group of 170 Burmese migrant workers returned from Malaysia on Friday with the help of a Buddhist monk, who funded their flight home.

Naypyidaw is cooperating with the Kuala Lumpur government during an ongoing crackdown on unregistered migrants in Malaysia, which has resulted in the arrest and detention of several thousand foreign workers in recent weeks.

The repatriation of Burmese workers was funded by well-known monk Sitagu Sayardaw. He received a donation of US$120,000 recently and spent a third of these funds on the repatriation of the 170 workers on Friday, a representative of Sitagu Sayardaw said, adding that the remaining $80,000 would be used to repatriate more workers.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — The first Burmese Muslim mosque built worldwide in more than three decades is going up in Fort Wayne.

The Mosque and Learning Center being erected on the city’s south side is owned by the Burmese Muslim Education and Community Center.

The Journal Gazette reports construction of the mosque will be a yearslong process because it is being funded with donations from the Muslim community.

The first phase of the mosque will have seating for 175 people and include prayer areas and small education rooms. Officials hope that phase is finished by the end of 2014.

By Zin Linn

A peacemaking meeting was held between the United Nationalities Federation Council (UNFC) and a government peacemaking team led by President’s Office Minister U Aung Min on 8 September in Chiang Mai, Thailand. U Aung Min’s true intention was selling the Burmese government plan to ethnic armed groups to join in October’s nationwide ceasefire signing ceremony, according to sources close to the ethnic federation.

However, the UNFC was reluctant to agree since its members had already signed a state-level ceasefire accords which the Burmese government army didn’t always abide by.

Author: Thin Lei Win

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY

BERLIN, Germany — A pre-autumn chill in the air of Germany’s capital brought a shiver to some of the tropically acclimated Burmese journalists on a trip to study political reporting here, in a country thousands of miles from Southeast Asia that, like Burma, has its own history of authoritarian repression.

A group of 10 Burmese journalists from private print, broadcast and online media ventured northwest last week to observe press practices in Germany, which has transitioned from rule under one of history’s most notorious dictators to a beacon of democratic stability in Europe.