“Myanmar is transitioning from an old system to a new and modern system. This requires us to break our old habits and forge new paths. Now is the time for every responsible official to work in unity so that we can reach our intended goal,” said President U Win Myint at a meeting with officials from the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive, the three pillars of democracy, in Kayah State yesterday.
The meeting was held in Loikaw Township and was attended by the Kayah State cabinet, officials from the State Hluttaw and High Court, Hluttaw MPs (Pyithu, Amyotha, Kayah State), and officials from the state, district, and township departments.
The President has been regularly visiting the states and regions, urging and motivating officials to carry out the work of democratic transition and national reform in a uniform manner. He has instructed them to cast away old habits, obsolete methods, and ways of thinking, and to adopt new techniques to implement reforms that benefit the people.
The President said the unchanging truth of the world was that change was constant. Resisting change was going against nature and did not benefit anyone, he added.
“We must adapt to the changing trends in the world. The changes that support the country are based on a democratic system that has its roots in universal truths. This is why we need to strengthen our democratic system,” he said.
The legislative, the executive, and the judiciary are the main pillars of the democratic system that work for the benefit of the nation and its people. In our ever-changing world, we need to make changes depending on the situation and by involving the judiciary, and to do that we must first amend the constitution. We must strive for a constitution that is relevant to the democratic federal union that we all wish for.
The executive implements changes and reforms, and is therefore, quite important. This is why the President is prioritizing changes in the executive branch. But it is not enough to change policies or leaders at the executive level. For reforms to be successful, officials and staff at the grassroots level must also welcome change.
The President has said we must shed our old habits to change the nation and the people. When implementing changes, we need to gauge how much we have changed ourselves, as we can only change other people when we succeed in changing ourselves. Hence, the heads of departments need to assess how far the changes reflect in the habits and spirits of others.
We urge everyone to work together and use their own judgement so that we can implement changes and reforms faster, and move closer to achieving our goal of a democratic federal union.
