National League for Democracy (NLD) law makers defied the military government by swearing themselves into office Thursday morning, February 4.
Seventy parliamentarians took their oaths at their municipal guest housing in Burma’s capital city, Naypyidaw. The junta kicked them out of the government housing but many have refused to leave.
“People voted for us, therefore we took an oath and signed our signatures,” said Phyu Phyu Thin, an MP-elect from Mingala Taung Nyunt Township, located in Yangon Region. As MPs, we can legally enact Parliament where ever we are, she told SHAN.
NLD lawmakers who already went home, after being released by the Burma Army the day after the military coup on February 1, will take their oaths online, Phyu Phyu Thin explained. And there’s plans to “cooperate” with parliamentarians from other parties who won seats during the November 8 election, she said.
The people of Burma have already suffered too much under the previous military dictatorship, which drove the country to economic ruin and bankrupt the health and education sectors, Phyu Phyu Thin said. Lawmakers will work with the public to bring down the current regime, she explained.
In 1990, the NLD also won the election in a landslide victory, but the Burma Army refused to relinquish power to the democratically elected government. Elected MPs formed the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP) and launched a non-violent movement to enact democracy in the country.
