Myanmar is barely moving on the road to democracy with guidelines that a constitutional convention produced on Monday in a first step towards a charter referendum and election. The document disappoints anyone expecting civilian rule, competitive party politics, adequate human rights protection as well as true ethnic minority autonomy. Even if such liberal democratic institutions could bring justice and stability - and not everyone expects they would - the country has a long road ahead. The guidelines envisage the military retaining key government control, filling many non-elected seats in all legislative bodies, and having the right to declare a state of emergency and take over power at any time.
It would be too much to expect the junta to relinquish power readily after four decades of political and economic control and privilege. Military hardliners have consolidated their hold after ousting prime minister Khin Nyunt in 2004 for his attempt to bring changes. Senior General Than Shwe remains disinclined to seek rapprochement with Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy, which walked out of the constitutional talks in 1996 over her house arrest. She is back under house arrest, and the NLD's understandable absence from the deliberations did nothing to advance the cause of civilian rule, human rights or minority autonomy. The onerous qualifications for political office the guidelines have apparently aimed at her and the NLD will widen the political gulf. The United States calls the process a "total sham" but it and other Western countries have offered no alternative beyond so-far useless sanctions. A nuanced approach is needed that, in the first instance, should avoid counter-productive reaction.
The Asean countries may find it time to extend their "constructive engagement" to quiet suggestions of a gradual but not too long drawn-out process towards a mixed Constitution. This would require building trust between the military rulers and the people in an inclusive national spirit arising from shared beliefs and values, such as Buddhism and the Myanmarese notion that politics is at least as much about personal power and responsibility as institutional checks and balance. Such a Constitution, at least in the transition, should reserve a role for the military without marginalising civilian political parties, and ensure national security without sacrificing human and minority rights. The first step this week did not go far enough. The best that can be said is it leaves some room for the next to be taken perhaps in a slightly different direction.