Constitutional Developments in Burma and Malaysia
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008, 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Choate Room, 1779 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C.
Main Speaker
Myint Zan is currently Senior Lecturer in the School of Law, Multimedia University, Malacca, Malaysia. He has taught in law schools and non-law schools at various universities in Malaysia, Australia and the South Pacific at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has a BA and LL.B. from Rangoon University, an LL.M. from the University of Michigan, a Master of International Law degree from the Australian National University, and a Ph.D. from Griffith University, Australia. He has published about 50 academic journal articles and chapters in books on international law, comparative law and human rights law as well as a few on literature and philosophy in journals published in Australia, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States. He occasionally contributes to and has published newspaper articles, mainly in the form of comments on certain international events from an international law perspective as well on other topics such as society, (international) politics, culture and literature in newspapers and magazines published in South East and East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Untied States.
Discussants
Pek Koon Heng is Assistant Professor at the School of International Service at American University; Course Chair for the Insular Southeast Asia Advanced Area Studies program at the Foreign Service Institute, Department of State; and a member of the Southeast Asia policy survey team at Georgetown University. She has previously taught at Auckland University in New Zealand, Hull University in England, the National University of Malaysia, Temple University Japan and Peking University in China. She obtained her PhD from London Universityís School of Oriental and African Studies, and her MA and BA degrees from Auckland University, New Zealand. Her publications include: Chinese Politics in Malaysia: A History of the Malaysian Chinese Association; ěThe Chinese Business Community in Peninsular Malaysia, 1957-1999î (co-author), and ěThe Chinese in the Malaysian Political Systemî (co-author), in The Chinese in Malaysia; ěThe Mahathir Generation and Nation Building in Malaysiaî in Reflections: The Mahathir Years; and ěGlobalization with Chinese characteristics: Building China-ASEAN Regional Cooperationî, in Globalization and East Asia.
Brian Joseph is the director of the South and Southeast Asia program at the National Endowment for Democracy, where he has worked since 1995. He oversees over $15,000,000 in grants to more than 130 civil society organizations in the region. Mr. Joseph has testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relationsí Subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific Affairs and the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, provided high-level briefings for State Department officials and Members of Congress, and lectured at the Foreign Service Institute. Mr. Joseph previously served as a volunteer South Asia regional coordinator for Amnesty International USA. He is a member of the International Human Rights Funders Group and the Burma Donors' Forum. Mr. Joseph has a B.A. in History from Colorado College and a M.A. in South Asian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has spoken and written widely about Burma, Pakistan, human rights in Asia, and democracy promotion in closed societies.
Dominic Nardi will be completing a JD at Georgetown Law as well as an MA in Southeast Asian Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 2009. He has interned at the Asia Foundation-Philippines in Manila, the law firm Soemadipradja and Taher in Jakarta, the American Bar Associationís Asia Law Project in Washington, DC, and the Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network in Manila. He is currently working as a student attorney with Georgetownís International Womenís Human Rights Clinic on HIV law in Kenya. He has published law review notes on evidence law in Indonesia, environmental litigation in the Philippines, and public interest litigation in Pakistan, as well as articles on counterinsurgency efforts on the Burma-India border and environmentalist Buddhist monks in Burma. He occasionally writes pieces on human rights and politics in Burma and the Philippines. Dominic visits Burma frequently for both holiday and business.
Moderator
David Steinberg is Distinguished Professor of Asian Studies, Georgetown University. He was previously a Representative of the Asia Foundation in Korea; Distinguished Professor of Korea Studies, Georgetown University; and President of the Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs. Earlier, as a member of the Senior Foreign Service, U.S. Agency for International Development, Department of State, he was Director for Technical Assistance in Asia and the Middle East, and Director for Philippines, Thailand, and Burma Affairs. He spent three years in Thailand with the USAID Regional Development Office. Professor Steinberg was educated at Dartmouth College, Lingnan University (Canton, China), Harvard University, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is the author of thirteen books and monographs, including: Turmoil in Burma: Contested Legitimacies in Myanmar; Burma: The State of Myanmar; Stone Mirror: Reflections on Contemporary Korea; and The Republic of Korea: Economic Transformation and Social Change. He has authored numerous articles, book chapters, and op-eds.
Summary
Dr. Myint Zan compared the developments in constitutional governance in Malaysia and Burma (Myanmar). He gave Malaysia higher marks on the rule of law, but did see some possible good points in the new Burmese constitution, in that it could provide a structure under which economic development can proceed as well as a possible limitation on the arbitrary exercise of power by the military government. It formalizes the military's role, and reserves considerable power for military men in parliament. There was a vigorous debate among the discussants, with varying viewpoints on the effective legitimacy of the military government and whether or not the new constitution, flawed as it may be, will ever even come into force or be able to set rules that will be obeyed by the military.
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