The Burmese dictator-in-chief, Than Shwe, made a rare public appearance yesterday and pushed his plans for a new constitution that would institutionalise permanently the dominance of the military and exclude from power the democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

General Than Shwe reviewed the troops at Tatmadaw - Armed Forces Day - an annual celebration of the 450,000-strong army that has ruled Burma since 1962. In a speech in the new administrative capital, Naypyidaw, he told the 13,000 assembled soldiers that “multiparty elections” in 2010 will follow a referendum on a new constitution to be held in May this year.

“Our Tatmadaw is making relentless and dedicated efforts during its tenure of shouldering state responsibility with the sincere aim of developing the country without any craving for power,” he said.

Detailed guidelines for the yet unpublished constitution indicate, however, that it will allocate a quarter of parliamentary seats to the military, which will control key appointments and retain the right to declare a state of emergency. It will also bar Ms Suu Kyi from politics on the ground that she is the widow of a foreigner, the late British academic Michael Aris.

General Than Shwe is in his mid-seventies and there are persistent rumours that he is in bad health. Western diplomats in Burma report that he underwent surgery for cancer in Singapore last year. The television images from Naypyidaw showed a chubby, bespectacled man who appeared strong and confident.

After a military band played a tune that sounded like a Burmese adaptation of the Colonel Bogey March, he gave a 15-minute address. He made no reference to the events of last September, when the military put down a peaceful uprising of tens of thousands of Buddhist monks and political activists. At least 31 people were killed in the crackdown, according to the UN, and about 800 of those arrested remain in jail.

Diplomats and Burmese journalists in Rangoon speculate that the announcement of the constitutional referendum and election are an attempt by the governing clique to manage a transition of power. Before the current regime formed in 1992, two previous military leaders held power in Burma and none retired on his own terms, both falling prey to internal coups.

If General Than Shwe can install a “democratic” government, however bogus, this may reduce the chances of him and his cronies facing a similar fate.

Explore Asia News

• China News

Times Recommends

• The truth behind Obama's meteoric ascent
• Christians flee Iraq amid religious cleansing
• Aid agencies: 5m face starvation in Zimbabwe