National reconciliation and trust building are the key to a successful democratic transition in Myanmar, the parliament’s Legal Affairs and Special Issues Assessment Commission Chair Thura U Shwe Mann has said. Speaking at a debate broadcast by local news outlet DVB, Shwe Mann said that all sides of Myanmar’s political spectrum must build trust in order for the democratic transition to be a success. “Doubts need to be reduced, so does ego,” he said in comments published in the Myanmar Times. “Leaders of the organisations need to talk more,” he said. Asked about the 2008 military-drafted constitution, Shwe Mann refused to be drawn on whether it was good or bad for the country, but asked the audience to imagine what would happen without it. “I am neither taking pride in that constitution nor putting blame on it. I just want you to see the reality,” he said. An ally of State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Shwe Mann was a senior member of the military-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), before he was ousted shortly before the 2015 general election.
