Myanmarâs ruling military junta has held its first rally to demonstrate support for its new roadmap plan aimed at shifting the isolated Southeast Asian nation towards democracy, state press reported Sunday. More than 15,000 people attended the rally in Yangon organised by the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), the New Light of Myanmar reported. The USDA is blamed for the May 30 attacks on Aung San Suu Kyiâs supporters that led to the Nobel peace laureateâs detention and the latest democracy crackdown in Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military for more than four decades. The group, described as a social organisation by the government, typically organises such carefully orchestrated mass rallies in a bid to demonstrate strong public support for government policies.
| A social organization, huh? Well, I'm certainly fooled... |
âSundayâs mass rally is to hail and support the Prime Ministerâs speech on the political roadmap of the State,â University of Yangonâs rector Soe Yin said in a speech to the crowd, according to the report. The first step of the roadmap is supposed to be the reconvening of the constitution convention suspended in 1996 following a boycott by Aung San Suu Kyiâs National League for Democracy (NLD), which deemed it unrepresentative. |