MANDALAY (UCAN): The parliament of the Union of Myanmar union parliament approved the formation of a 45-member committee to draft a bill to amend the country’s military-drafted 2008 constitution by a vote of 389 to 192 on February 19.
 
The plan was approved over the objections from military lawmakers and the main opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).
 

MANDALY (UCAN): Myanmar must provide redress for illegally confiscating land and enact laws and regulations “to safeguard the rights of farmers” and other small landholders, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a July 17 report.
 
The report said that over the last 30 years the government as well as military officials have seized hundreds of thousands of acres from farmers while providing little or no compensation and that this has jeopardised their livelihoods and eroded their access to basic services.
 

BANGKOK (UCAN): “It is at a crucial moment in the history of this country that we, as Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim leaders from Myanmar and across the region, come to you in solidarity with hope for peace,” Charles Cardinal Bo of Yangon, along with leaders of other faith confessions, said in an open letter to the people of Myanmar.
 

Mandalay (UCAN): Former speaker of the lower house of Myanmar’s parliament, Win Myint, was elected as a vice-president in the first step in his expected ascension to the presidency of the troubled nation on March 23.
 
The lower house, dominated by State Counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), voted 273-27 in favour of Myint in a ballot also contested by a candidate from the military-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party.
 

Hong Kong (SE): At end of his four-day visit to Myanmar on November 30, Pope Francis had met with the country’s president, Htin Kyaw; state counsellor, Aung San Suu Kyi; its senior military general and army chief, Min Aung Hlaing; as well as leaders of the Buddhist, Muslim, Baptist and Jewish faiths.
 
To the dismay of some observers and rights advocates, not once while in Myanmar did he publicly use the word, Rohingya.
 

HONG KONG (SE): One thing about being a well-known person of influence, or what the Japanese would call having a wide face, is that there are always plenty of people around ready to give you advice, even though much of it may be conflicting.
 

HONG KONG  (SE): Myanmar’s state counsellor and de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, broke her silence over the massive Rohingya crisis in the northern state of Rahkine when she addressed matter in a nationally televised speech on September 18 CNN reported.
 
She said, “It is not the intention of the Myanmar government to apportion blame or to abdicate responsibility. We condemn all human rights violation and unlawful violence.”