Committee Representing The People's Parliament

   (CRPP)

   In June 1998, the leadership of the National League for Democracy (NLD) set a deadline of August 21, 1998, for the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to recognize the results of the General Election of May 27, 1990, and allow a government to be formed. When this went unheeded, the NLD, backed by 251 elected representatives, appointed a 10-member Committee Representing the People's Parliament on September 16. The CRPP's function is to work "on behalf of the Parliament until a parliamentary session attended by all the elected representatives is convened." It has declared null and void laws decreed by the SPDC and its predecessor, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, as well as certain pre-1988 laws deemed repressive. The CRPP also established 10 subcommittees dealing with such areas as economics, ethnic nationalities, and foreign affairs. The SPDC, viewing the creation and actions of the CRPP as a provocation, increased its pressure on the NLD, including detention of CRPP president Saw Mra Aung. In 2002, the CRPP's membership was expanded to 13, adding three representatives of ethnic minority opposition parties.