Event Reports
Rationale
Myanmar’s new constitution, which came into effect with the inauguration of the Parliament in January 2011, has designed a new system of political, administrative and fiscal decentralization. The Constitution stipulates the territorial division into seven regions, seven states of ethnic minorities, six self-administered zones and the capital Naypyidaw as union territory. Moreover, citizens in the 14 regions and states elected for the first time regional parliaments that enjoy broad competences.
However, the process of political, administrative and fiscal decentralization has not yet really begun. The Chief Ministers of the regions and divisions as well as the respective "State Ministers" were appointed by the President, while the regional governments still have very few competences and rather act as administrative units of the central government. Their budgets remain limited because the central government continues to control 95% of the national budget, and the regional governments have no other, independent revenues. The competences of the regional legislatures also remain limited. Nonetheless, the regional parliaments face growing expectations of the population. Similarly, the public also expects services for which there is no capacity (yet). Members of regional parliaments who maintain close contacts with their constituencies experience the pressure of public expectations while also feeling their own powerlessness to deliver public goods and services. This has triggered a strong interest among regional parliamentarians for the transmission of greater powers and responsibilities from the centre to the regions and ethnic states.
Generally, knowledge and experience with regard to decentralization are very low in the country. This applies not least to members of the national ruling elite, as noted during the international dialogue. Against this background, the international dialogue sought to transmit the basic concepts of decentralization as well as practical experiences in countries that underwent processes of decentralization.
Participants
More than 70 people participated in the International Dialogue, including more than 40 MPs from regional and national parliaments in Myanmar. Among the participants were most of the Speakers of the 14 regional parliaments, several state ministers and members of national parliaments, members of the lower house of the National Parliament and representatives of the Commission for Assessment of Legal Affairs and Special Issues, which plays an important role in preparing the policy and institutional reforms. The parliamentarians belonged to different parties.