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Burma's long-time democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has officiallybeen sworn in as a member of parliament, taking public office forthe first time after spending much of the past two decades underhouse arrest. The Nobel laureate took the oath of office Wednesday to enterBurma's lower legislative house, ending a parliamentary boycottthat had threatened to interrupt the country's political reformprocess. For more than a week, the 66-year-old opposition leader and herNational League for Democracy had refused to take the oath becauseit required them to "safeguard" the constitution, which was draftedby Burma's former military rulers. But the NLD earlier this week agreed to take the pledge, whilevowing to push for constitutional change through legislativeaction. Aung San Suu Kyi said after taking the oath that she has no qualmsabout sitting next to Burmese military members, who still make upthe bulk of the country's parliament. But she said she would liketo see the country's legislative bodies become more democratic. "We would like our parliament to be in line with genuine democraticvalues," she said. "It's not because we want to remove anybody, assuch. We just want to make the kind of improvements that would makeour national assembly truly democratic." Parliament member Win Oo of the military-backed Union Solidarityand Development Party praised Aung San Suu Kyi's decision to backdown from her parliamentary boycott. "The fact that Suu Kyi has come to the parliament is good, becauseas we have said so many times, if we want to achieve things for thebenefit of the people and the country we should let sleeping dogslie," he said. The NLD, which won 43 of the 45 available seats in April 1by-elections, now becomes the main opposition party in Burma'sbicameral legislature that is still dominated by military-backedpolitical parties. Observers say the NLD will likely not haveenough power to affect much immediate change to the constitution,which sets aside a quarter of all seats in parliament for unelectedmilitary members. Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in generalelections in 1990. But military leaders at the time refused torelinquish power and the victors were refused entry intoparliament. The NLD boycotted the 2010 elections that ended decadesof military rule in Burma. Since then, President Thein Sein and his new nominally civiliangovernment have enacted a series of democratic reforms, includingeasing press restrictions and releasing hundreds of politicalprisoners. The international community has responded to the reforms by liftingmany of the long-standing sanctions against Burma. But some rightsgroups are reacting to the reforms with guarded optimism. Benjamin Zawacki, an Asia researcher at Amnesty International, saysthe global community should not forget that Burma has much work todo, particularly in regards to releasing political prisoners. "While we certainly celebrate that roughly half, or more perhapsthan half of political prisoners in the country have been released,we feel like attention needs to remain on those yet to be released,so that the job can be finished," said Zawacki. Zawacki says international calls for the release of additionalpolitical prisoners in Burma have been muted following the releaseof several high-profile activists since May 2011. But rights groupsestimate that hundreds of prisoners of conscience are yet to bereleased. Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP andReuters. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Magnetic Nail Art , Magnetic Writing Board Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Rubber Magnet Sheets today!
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