1

Contents

State Law and Order Restoration Council and State Peace and

Development Council

Chapter VII Pages

7.1 Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar

(2008) 3

7.2 Drafting of Constitution 3

7.3 Basic Principles 4

7.4 State Structure 7

7.5 Legislature 9

7.5.1 Pyidaungsu Hluttaw 9

7.5.1.1 Composition 10

7.5.1.2 Powers 11

7.5.1.3 Law Making 12

7.6 Executive 13

7.6.1 The Union Government 13

7.6.1.1 Formation of the Union Government 14

7.6.1.2 Powers and Functions of the President 14

7.6.1.3 The Executive Power of the Union Government 16

7.7 Judiciary 17

7.7.1 Formation of Courts 18

7.7.2 Supreme Court of the Union 18

7.7.2.1 Original Jurisdiction 18

7.7.2.2 Writ Jurisdiction 20

7.7.2.3 Appointment of the Chief Justice of the Union 21

7.7.2.4 Impeachment of the Chief Justice of Judges 22

7.7.2.5 Term of the Chief Justice of the Union and Judges

of the Supreme Court of the Union 22

7.7.3 Formation of High Court of Region and State 23

7.7.3.1 Jurisdiction 23

2

7.7.3.2 Court under Supervision of the High Court of Region or

State 23

7.7.4 Courts- Martial 25

7.7.5 The Constitutional Tribunal of the Union 25

7.7.5.1 Formation 25

7.7.5.2 Functions and Duties 25

7.7.5.3Submission to obtain the interpretation, decision and

opinion 27

Key Terms 29

Assignment Questions 30

Short Questions 31

3

Chapter (7)

State Law and Order Restoration Council and State Peace and

Development Council

’

7.1 Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (2008)

2008

7.2 Drafting of Constitution -

Drafting of the detailed basic principles of the Constitution was drafted

by the eight groups of people representatives containing main structures

in the Constitution of 2008.

၏

၌ ါ ။

A Referendum was held a relating to the draft Constitution. The State

Peace and Development Council issued a notification relating to hold a

Referendum on the draft Constitution of 2008. Announcement on the

result of the Referendum held in 47 Townships in Yangon and

Ayeyawady Divisions, by the Commission of Referendum (11/2008).

Announcement on result of the Referendum held in the whole Country,

by the Commission of Referendum (No. 12/2008).Announcement of

Promulgation of State Constitution of the Republic of the Union of

Myanmar by the State Peace and Development Council (No. 7/2008).

၍ ။

၈

၍

။ ၏

ါ ၄၇

4

၁၁/ ၈ ။

၏

၁ / ၈ ။

၏

၇/ ၈

7.3 Basic Principles -

The National Convention Commencing Work Committee formally

approved the 104 basic principles during the National Convention held

in Nyaung Napin, the basic principles are consolidated to 42 basic

principle. Among the 42 basic principles the salient points are as

follows:-

၁ ၄

၄ ါ ။ ၄

ါ ။

The Union’s cons is tent objectives contained of s ix points;

၆ ါ ၊၎ -

(a) non-disintegration of the Union,

၁ ၊

(b) non-disintegration of National Solidarity,

၊

(c) perpetuation of Sovereignty;

၃ ၊

(d) flourishing of a genuine, disciplined multi party democratic

system;

၄ ၍ ါ ၊

5

(e) enhancing the defence services to beable to participat in

the National Political Leadership role of the state.

၅ ၌ ၊

ါ ၊

(f) enabling the defence services to be able to participate in the

National political leadership role of the state. (Art: 6)

(၆) ၏

ါ ။ ၆

The Union Practices genuine disciplined multi-party democratic system.

(Art7)

၍ ါ

။

The Union is constituted by the Union System. (Art 8)

။ ၈

No part of the territory constituted in the Union such as Regions,

States, Union Territories and Self-Administered Areas shall ever secede

from the Union. (Art 10)

ါ ၊ ၊

၊ ၏

ါ ၊ ၁

In various Hluttaw, defense services personal have the right to

participate as prescribed by the Constitution:

၊

ါ ။

The head of the Union and the Head of Executive of the Union is

the President. (Art 16)

။ ၁၆

The Union shall to protect the right of the peasants and to protect

the right of the workers by enacting necessary Laws.

6

၏

။

Civil services personnel shall be free from party politics. (Art26)

(a) ါ ၊ ၆

The Union shall care for mothers and children orphans, fallen

defence services pers onnel’s children, the aged and the disable d;

(Art32) (a)

၊ ၊

၏ ၊ ၊

၊ ၃

The economic system of the Union is market economy system. (Art35)

၏ ။ ၃၅

Every citizen shall have the right to elect and be elected in accord with

the law. (Art38) (a)

။ ၃၈

The Union shall practice disciplined multi-party democratic system in

accordance with Law.

ါ

။

The Union practises independent, active and non-aligned foreign policy.

(Art41)

၍ ါ

။ ၄၁

The Union shall protect and conserve natural environment.

(Art45)

။ ၄၅

If any issue arises out of the Constitution, a Constitutional

Tribunal formed by the Constitution has the power to interpret the

7

Constitution and laws promulgated by the various Hluttaw, Region and

State Hluttaws and the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal is final

and conclusive. (Art46)

ဤ ါ ၊

ဤ

။ ၄၆

7.4 State Structure

State structure of the Constitution of the Republic of the Union of

Myanmar is defined Chapter II of the Constitution.

ါ ။

According to the relevant provisions the Union consists of seven

Regions, seven States and the Union territories as follows:-

ါ ၊

။ ၎ -

(a) Kachin State;

၁

(b) Kayah State;

(c) Kayin State;

၃

(d) Chin State;

၄

(e) Sagaing Region;

၅

(f) Taninthayi Region;

၆

(g) Bago Region;

8

(h) Magway Region;

(၈

(i) Mandalay Region;

၉

(j) Mon State;

၁

(k) Rakhine State;

၁၁

(l) Yangon Region;

၁

(m) Shan State;

၁၃

(n) Ayeyawady Region;

၁၄

(o) Union territories. (Art 49).

၁၅ ၄၉

Nay Pyi Taw, the capital of the Union prescribed as Union territory,

shall be under the direct administration of the President. (Art 50 a)

၏ ၏

။

၅

The Union is constituted as follows: (Art 51)

ါ - ၅၁

(a) villages are organized as village tract;

၊

(b) wards are organized as town or township;

၊

(c) village- tracts and wards or towns are organized as township;

၊

(d) townships are organized as district;

9

ဃ ၊

(e) districts are organized as Region or State;

၊

(f) townships in a self -Administered Zone are organized as Self-

Administered Zone;

( )

၊

(g) townships in a Self-Administered Division are organized as

District and such Districts are organized as Self- Administered

Division;

( )

၊

(a) If there are Self- Administered Zone or Self-Administered

Division in a

Region or a State, those Self-Administered Divisions, Self-

Administered Zones and Districts are organized as Region or State;

(ဇ)

ါ ၊

၊

(i) Regions, States and Union territories are organized as the

Republic.The Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar

has a bi-cameral legislature according to Article 47 and the following

organs of State power are formed.

( ၊

၊ ၄၇

၏ ါ

။

7.5 Legislature

7.5.1 Pyidaungsu Hluttaw -

10

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw is the highest organ of legislative power.

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw consists of two Hluttaws that are Pyithu Hluttaw

and Amyotha Hluttaw. The Pyithu Hluttaw is formed with hluttaw

representatives elected on the basis of township as well as population

and hluttaw representatives being the defence services personal

nominative by the Commander in Chief of the Defence Services. The

Amyotha Hluttaw is formed with hluttaw representatives elected in

equal members from Regions and States and hluttaw representatives

being the defence services personal nominative by the Commander in

Chief of the Defence Services.

။

၍ ါ ။ ၍ ၊

၍

၊

။

7.5.1.1 Composition -

There are 440 Hluttaw representatives in the Pyithu Hluttaw, 330

members are elected from not more than 330 townships and 110

members are represented to the defence nominated by the Commander-

in- Chief of the Defence Services in accord with the law. (Art 74 and

109)

၄ ၄

ါ ၊ ၍ ၊

၍ ၊ ၃၃ ါ

11

ါ ၍

၍ ၃ ၃

၊

၁၁

။ ၇၄ ၁ ၉

Amyotha Hluttaw consists of 224 Hluttaw representatives, 168

represented Regions or States and Self-Administered Divisions or Self-

Administered Zones, 56 representatives are the defence services

personnel nominated by the Commander- in- Chief of the Defence

Servies, four representatives from each Region or State inclusive of

relevant Union territory.

၄

ါ ၊

ါ

ါ

၁

၁၆၈ ၊

ါ

၅၆

။

7.5.1.2 Powers -

The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw shall have the right to enact law for the

entire or any part of the Union related to matters prescribed in Schedule

One of the Union Legislative List. (Art96)

ဇ ၁

ါ ၍

၊ ၏

။ ၉၆

12

The Region or State Hluttaw shall have the right to enact laws

for the entire or any part of the Region or State related to matters

prescribed in Schedule Two of the the Region or State Hluttaw

Legislative List.(Art 188)

ဇ

ါ ၍

၊

။ ၁၈၈

The term of the Pyithu Hluttaw is five years from the date of its first

session.(Art 119)

၏

၍ ါ ။ - ၁၁၉

The rest of the terms of the Hluttaw such as Amyotha Hluttaw, Regions

or States Hluttaw are the same.

၏ ၊

၏ ။

7.5.1.3 Law Making -

Law Making prescribes as follows:-

ါ ၊ ၎ -

(a) If a Bill initiated in the Pyithu Hluttaw or the Amyotha Hluttaw is

approved by both Hluttaws, it shall be deemed that the Bill is approved

by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.

၊ ၊

။

(b) If there is a disagreement between the Pyithu Hluttaw and the

Amyotha Hluttaw concerning a Bill, the Bill shall be discussed and

resolved in the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. (Art 95)

13

( )

၍

ါ ။ ၉၅

(a) The Region or State level organizations formed under the

Constitution shall have the right to submit the Bills relating to matters

they administered among the matters included in the Schedule Two of

the Region or State Legislative List to the Region or State Hluttaw in

accord with the prescribed procedures.

ဇ

ါ

။

(b) Bills relating to regional plans, annual budgets and taxation of the

Region or State, which are to be submitted exclusively by the Region

or State government, shall be submitted to the Region or the State

Hluttaw in accord with the prescribed procedures.(Art 190 a,b)

၁၉ ၊

၊

။

7.6 Executive -

7.6.1 The Union Government -

Executive Power

(a) The Executive Head of the Union is the President

၊

(b) (i) The executive power of the Union is distributed among the

Union, Regions and States.

14

၁ ၏

။

(ii) Self-Administered power is distributed among Self-Administered

Areas as prescribed by the Constitution. rt a b

၁၉၉ ၊

။

7.6.1.1 Formation of the Union Government

The Union Government shall comprise of the following persons:-

ါ

-

(a) The President;

၊

(b) Vice-Presidents;

( ၊

(c) Ministers of the Union;

( ၊

(d) The Attorney-General of the Union. (Art 200)

ဃ ၊

7.6.1.2 Powers and Functions of the President

၏

The President, with the approval of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, may:-

၏ -

designate the Ministries of the Union Government as necessary, and

may make changes and additions to the ministries; designate the

number of the Union Ministers as necessary, and may increase or

decrease the number.(Art 202)

15

။

၊ ။

။ ၊

။

The President may, in accord with law, have: - the power to

confer honorary titles and awards; and the power to revoke conferred

honorary titles and awards.(Art 205)

- ၊

။

၊ ။ ၅

The President, in accord with the law, may appoint and dismiss Heads

of the Bodies of Civil Services (Art 208)

၊ ။ ၈

The President shall have the right to occasionally deliver an address or

send a message to the session of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw or the

Amyotha Hluttaw, or to the entire country relating the policies and

general situation of the Union. (Art 210)

၏ ါ ၏

၊

၊

ါ ၊ ။ ၁

The President may intimate the Speaker of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw to

summon an emergency or special session of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, if

necessary. (Art 211)

၊

။ ၁၁

The President may declare war or make peace only with the assent of

the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.(Art 213 c)

16

၏

၊ ။ ၁ ၃ )

The President shall signed laws and promulgated in the official

Gazette. The President shall be exempted from answering act done by

him but the exemption does not deal with the provisions relating to

impeachment.

၌

။

။

၁၄၊ ၁၅

7.6.1.3 The Executive Power of the Union Government

၏

Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, the executive power of the

Union extends to administrative matters over which the Pyidaungsu

Hluttaw has power to make laws.(Art 216)

ါ ၏

။ - ၁၆

The Union Government preserves stability of the Union, community

peace and tranquility and prevalence of law and order. (Art 219)

၊

။ - ၁၉

The Union Government shall promulgate its policies in accord with the

provisions of the Constitution. The necessary projects have to be drawn

in accord with the said policies and shall be implemented with the

approval of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. (Art 220)

ါ

17

၏ ါ ။ ါ

၍ ၏

။ -

The Union Government shall draft the Union Budget Bill based on the

annual Union budget, after coordinating with the Financial

Commission, and submit it for approval to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw in

accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. (Art 221)

၏

၏

၍ ါ

၍ ။ - ၁

The Union Government may, relating the matters which may be enacted

into law by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw in accord with the provisions of the

Constitution, submit the Bill to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. (Art 223).

ါ

၍

။ - ၃

In carrying out functions of the Region Government, the State

Government, and the Leading Bodies of Self-Administered Division

and Self-administered Zone, the Union Government co-operates and co-

ordinates with them to be effective and successful.(Art225)

၊

ါ ။

- ၅

The Union Government, in accordance with law may form civil services

organizations relating to the Union as necessary. In so forming, the

functions and powers shall be prescribed; may appoint the required civil

service personnel. (Art 227)

18

-

။

။

။ - ၇

7.7 Judiciary -

7.7.1 Formation of Courts -

Courts of the Union are formed as follows:- the Supreme Court of the

Union, the High Courts of the Region, the High Courts of the State, the

Courts of the Self-Administered Division, the Courts of the Self-

Administered Zone, the District Courts, the Township Courts and the

other Courts constituted by law; the Courts-Martial; Constitutional

Tribunal of the Union.(Art:293)

၏ ါ -

၊ ၊

၊ ၊

၊ ၊

၊

၊

။ - ၉၃

7.7.2 Supreme Court of the Union

In the Union, there shall be a Supreme Court of the Union without

affecting the powers of the Constitutional Tribunal and the Court-

Martial, the Supreme of the Union is the highest Court of the

Union.(Art: 294).

။

၏

၏

။ - ၉၄

19

7.7.2.1 Original Jurisdiction -

(a) Only the Supreme Court of the Union has the following original

jurisdiction:-

၌ ါ

-

(i) in matters arising out of bilateral treaties concluded by the

Union;

(၁)

၍ ါ ၊

(ii) in other disputes, except the constitutional problems, between the

Union. Government and the Region or State Governments;

(

၊

(iii) in other disputes, except the constitutional problems, among the

Regions, among the States, between the Region and State and between

the Union Territory and the Region or the State;

၃ ၊ ၊

၊

၊

(iv) other matters as prescribed by any law;

၄

(b) As the Supreme Court of the Union is the highest court of the

Union, it is the court of final appeal;

၏

၊

(c)The judgments of the Supreme Court of the Union are final and

conclusive and have no right of appeal;

၏

၍ ၊

20

(d) The Supreme Court of the Union subject to any provisions of

the Constitution or any provisions of other law has the appellate

jurisdiction to decide judgments passed by the High Courts of the

Region or the State. Moreover, the Supreme Court of the Union also has

the appellate jurisdiction to decide passed by judgments of the other

courts in accord with the law;

ဃ ါ

၊ ါ

၏

။

။

(e) The Supreme Court of the Union has the revisional jurisdiction in

accordance with the law. (Art: 295).

(c)

။

7.7.2.2 Writ Jurisdiction -

The Supreme Court of the Union has the power to issue the following

writs:-

ါ

-

(i) Writ of Habeas Corpus;

၁ ၊

(ii) Writ of Mandamus;

၊

(iii) Writ of Prohibition;

၃ ၊

(iv) Writ of Quo Warranto;

၄ ၊

(v) Writ of Certiorari.

21

၅ ၊

The applications to issue writs shall be suspended in the areas

where the state of emergency is declared. (Art 296)

ါ

။

7.7.2.3 Appointment of the Chief Justice of the Union

(a)The Head of the Supreme Court of the Union shall be called the

Chief Justice of the Union.

၏

၊

(b) Judges of the Supreme Court of the Union including the Chief

Justice of the Union may be appointed in the Supreme Court from a

minimum of seven and a maximum of eleven in number.

ါ

၁၁ ၊

(c) (i) The President shall submit the nomination of the suitable to be

appointed as the Chief Justice of the Union to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw

and seek its approval.

( ၁

၏

၊

(ii) The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw shall have no right to refuse person

nominated by the President for the appointment of Chief Justice of the

Union and Judges of the Supreme Court of the Union unless it can

clearly be proved that the persons do not meet the qualifications for the

post prescribed in Article 301.

22

၃ ၁

၏

ါ

၊ - ၉၉

7.7.2.4 Impeachment of the Chief Justice of Judges

The President or the representatives of the Pyithu Hluttaw or

Amyotha Hluttaw may impeach the Chief Justice of Union or any Judge

of the Supreme Court of Union on account of high treason, breach of

any provisions of the Constitution misconduct, disqualification, and

inefficient discharge of duty assigned by law.

ါ

- ၏ ဇ ၊

ါ ၊

၊ ၃ ၁

၏ ၊

။ - ၃

7.7.2.5 Term of the Chief Justice of the Union and Judges of the

Supreme Court of the Union

၏

The Chief Justice and Judges of the Supreme Court of the Union

shall hold office up to the age of 70 years unless resignation or his own

volition, being remove from office by impeachment, this ability cause

by either physical or mental defect, death.

23

၊

ါ ၍ ၊

၏ ါ ါ ါ

၊ ါ

၇ ။ ။ - ၃ ၃

7.7.3 Formation of High Court of Region and State

There is the High Court of the Region in the Region and the High Court

of the State in the State. (Art: 305)

၊

။

7.7.3.1 Jurisdiction -

High Courts of the Region or the State shall have the following

jurisdictions in accord with the law:-

ါ

-

adjudicating on original case;

၊

adjudicating on appeal case;

၊

adjudicating on revision case;

၊

adjudicating on matters prescribed by any law. (Art 306)

။ - ၃ ၆

7.7.3.2 Court under Supervision of the High Court of Region or State

24

၏

၊

The following levels of Courts are under the supervision of the High

Court of the Region or State: -

၏ ါ

-

If there is no Self-Administered Areas in the Region or State:-

-

၁ District Courts;

၊

(ii) Township Courts.

။

If there is Self-Administered Areas in the Region or the State:-

-

(i) In the Self-Administered Division:-

၁ ၌

(aa) Court of the Self-Administered Division;

၊

(bb) Township Courts.

။

(ii) In the Self-Administered Zone:-

၌

(aa) Court of the Self-Administered Zone;

၊

(bb) Township Courts.

။

(iii) In the remaining areas:-

၃ ၌

(aa) District Courts;

၊

(bb) Township Courts.

25

။

(c) In the Union Territory:-

၌

(i) District Courts;

၁ ၊

(ii) Township Courts.

။

(d) Other Courts constituted by law.( Art: 314)

ဃ ။ ၃၁၄

7.7.4 Courts- Martial -

According to Sub-Section (b) of Article 293, the Courts-Martial shall be

constituted in accord with the Constitution and the other law and shall

adjudicate Defence Services Personnel. (Art: 319)

၉၃

၍ ။

7.7.5 The Constitutional Tribunal of the Union

7.7.5.1 Formation -

The Constitutional Tribunal of the Union shall be formed with nine

members including the Chairperson. (Art: 320)

ါ

။

7.7.5.2 Functions and Duties -

The functions and the duties of the Constitutional Tribunal of the

Union are as follows:-

၏ ါ

-

(a) interpreting the provisions under the Constitution;

26

ါ

၊

(b) vetting whether the laws promulgated by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw,

the Region Hluttaw, the State Hluttaw or the Self-Administered

Division Leading Body and the Self-Administered Zone Leading Body

are in conformity with the Constitution or not;

၊ ၊

-

၊

(c) vetting whether the measures of the executive authorities of the

Union, the Regions, the States, and the Self-Administered Areas are in

conformity with the Constitution or not;

၊ ၊

၏ ၏

- ၊

(d) deciding on Constitutional disputes between the Union and a

Region, between the Union and a State, between a Region and a State,

among the Regions, among the States, between a Region or a State and

a Self-Administered Area and among the Self-administered Areas;

ဃ ၊ ၊

၊ ၊ ၊

၊

၊

(e) deciding on disputes arising out of the rights and duties of the Union

and a Region, a State or a Self-Administered Area in implementing the

Union Law by a Region, State or Self-Administered Area;

၊

27

၊ ၏

၍ ါ ၊

(f) vetting and deciding matters informed by the President of the State

regarding the Union Territory;

၍

၊

(g) functions and duties conferred by the laws enacted by the

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw. (Art: 322)

။ ၃

The resolution of the State Constitutional Tribunal of the Union shall be

final and conclusive. (Art: 324)

၏

။

7.7.5.3 Submission to obtain the interpretation, decision and

opinion –

၏ ၊

The following persons and organizations shall have the right to submit

matters directly to obtain the interpretation, resolution and opinion of

the Constitutional Tribunal of the Union:-

၏ ၊ ၊

ါ

-

(a) the President;

၊

(b) the Speaker of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw;

၊

28

(c) the Speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw;

၊

(d) the Speaker of the Amyotha Hluttaw;

ဃ ၊

(e) the Chief Justice of the Union;

၊

(f) the Chairperson of the Union Election Commission. (Art: 325)

။ - ၃ ၅

The term of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Union is the same as that

of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw being five years. However, the ongoing

Constitutional Tribunal of the Union, on expiry of the term, shall

continue its functions till the President form a new Tribunal under the

Constitution. (Art: 335)

၏

၏ ါ ။

၏

။

29

Key Terms

ons titution -

as ic rinciples -

ulti-party de ocratic s ys te - ါ

Referendum -

nnounce ent -

a tional onvention -

Discipline -

Union System -

e gions -

tate s -

Union Territories -

Self-Administered Areas -

the aged and the disabled - ၊

elf- d inistered ivisions -

Self-Administered Zones and Districts -

yidaungs u luttaw -

tate luttaw -

Composition -

Law Making -

Courts- Martial

Original Jurisdiction -

rit uris diction -

uris diction -

30

Assignment Questions

1. State briefly the Basic Principles of the Constitution of the

Republic of the Union of Myanmar 2008.

2. State briefly the State Structure of the Constitution of the

Republic of the Union of Myanmar 2008.

3. State briefly the Executive of the Constitution of the Republic of

the Union of Myanmar 2008.

4. Explain the role of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw under the Constitution of

the Republic of the Union of Myanmar 2008.

5. Explain briefly the role of Judiciary under the Constitution of the

Republic of the Union of Myanmar 2008.

6. Discuss the important role of the Constitutional Tribunal of the

Union under the Constitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar

2008.

31

Short Questions

1. Briefly explain the State structure of 2008 Constitution.

2. State the composition of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw under 2008

Constitution.

3. State the composition of Pyithu Hluttaw under 2008 Constitution.

4. State the composition of Amyotha Hluttaw under 2008

Constitution.

5. Explain the role of Executive Power under 2008 Constitution.

6. Describe the formation of the Union Government under 2008

Constitution.

7. Write short note on the Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under

2008 Constitution.

8. Write about the Jurisdiction of the High Court of the Region or

the High Court of the State2008 Constitution.

9. Who may be submitting to Constitutional Tribunal to obtain for

opinion and resolution?