I WAS in Chiang Mai in Thailand to catch up with the latest news coming out of Myanmar—or Burma, as its dissidents tend to call it still. I was keen to hear about the progress of its new parliament, which opened amid considerable publicity on January 31st. This was the first time the country convened a parliament in 22 years. Apparently it ushers in a new age of democracy under civilian rule…

As Chiang Mai is so close to the Burmese border, it has become the capital of the international dissidents’ Burma. Here are hundreds of Burmese former political prisoners, exiled politicians and activists, as well as international NGO workers, academics and policy wonks, all deeply involved in the country’s affairs. I found that there are almost as many views on the current situation in Burma as there are people to express them.

Some, such as the Burmese journalists who staff the online newspaper the Irrawaddy, are last-ditchers—they refuse to be reconciled to the new civilian façade of the regime in Yangon. Others argue that the army is the only game in town; anyone trying to do any good in Burma has to work with them. These are the pragmatists. They tend to have some faith in the regime’s apparent attempts to move towards a more democratic, less authoritarian system. Many (including the idealists) also argue for the lifting of Western sanctions. The argument goes that sanctions have achieved nothing more than to hand over Burma’s vast oil and mineral wealth to the unscrupulous Chinese (and Thais).

However there was one subject that everybody seemed to agree on—how little Burma’s new parliament actually seems to be working. Apparently, in the month since it opened the lower house has met for a total of just nine hours or so. Sessions of the new parliament have lasted 20 minutes at most—barely enough time for any self-respecting British MP to clear his throat. On average, sessions last only 15 minutes—hence the joke doing the rounds that it is the “15-minute hluttaw” (Burmese for parliament).

Not surprisingly, 15 minutes does not allow much time for getting legislative work done. This is what many critics feared; the regime’s cronies control all the work of the parliament and will thus toil vigorously to limit any opportunity for proper debate or the airing of the opposition’s views. So far, the hluttaw’s massive pro-regime majority has dutifully nominated a new president and vice-presidents, but has yet to form a government.

According to one foreign interlocutor I spoke to, it is the MPs of the largest official opposition party, the National Democratic Front (NDF), who are “the most disappointed right now”. These were the opposition activists who broke with Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy over their participation in last November’s elections. They invested a lot of hope in the efficacy of the new parliamentary process when it came to justifying their participation in the elections. Their support will surely wane if parliament proves to be as toothless as it has been over the past month.

And it’s not only the lack of opportunities to speak that worries the NDF. One of their MPs, who refused to give his name quite understandably, was quoted in the Irrawaddy as saying: “We were warned when we arrived here [the new parliament in the capital Naypyidaw] that we couldn’t move around freely. Even though we receive stipends, we feel like prisoners. When we are in session, we are only allowed to go to the dining hall or tearoom or return to our hostels.” Oh for Western freedoms, and for taxpayer-funded duck houses.