Suu Kyi takes parliamentary oath

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took an historic oath today to join Burma’s parliament, ushering in a dramatic new political era.

The parliamentary session was to have ended on Monday but was extended in part to allow Suu Kyi and fellow members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) to take their seats.

The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner's debut in a parliament stacked with uniformed officers could accelerate reforms that have already included the most sweeping changes in the former British colony since a 1962 military coup, including the release of political prisoners and a loosening of strict media controls.

Suu Kyi said she was hoping to bring democratic values to the assembly: “We would like our parliament to be in line with genuine democratic values. It’s not because we want to remove anybody as such. We just want to make the kind of improvements that would make our national assembly a truly democratic one.”

It was unclear, however, how rapidly she can deliver on her ambitious campaign promises, including the overhaul of Burma's army-drafted constitution, in a legislature dominated by former members of the military junta who ruled for nearly half a century before ceding to a quasi-civilian government last year.

“On the one hand, it is encouraging to see this kind of small political changes in Burma, on the other hand, this doesn’t really represent the changes taking place in the whole country,” said Zoya Phan, Campaigns Manager for Burma Campaign UK.

“We still many problems in Burma,” she told Vatican Radio. “We still have hundreds of political prisoners, and attacks against ethnic minorities.”

Listen to the full interview by Emer McCarthy with Zoya Phan: