Typo or trick? Myanmar's missing words reveal all

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - In Myanmar, the devil really is in the detail.

Close scrutineers of the former Burma's new constitution, due to be put to a referendum next month, are wondering whether the omission of four key words is just a typographical error or a dastardly trick by the military junta to keep power forever.

In a widely published outline of the charter, Myanmar's voters were led to believe that changing the constitution would need approval from 75 percent of parliament and then a simple majority -- "more than half of all eligible voters" -- in a referendum.

However, when the full document leaked out a week ago, many were surprised to see constitutional tweaks would need approval from "all eligible voters", a proviso that in reality makes any amendments impossible in a country of 53 million people.

Whether the omission of "more than half of" is deliberate or accidental is unclear, especially since Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, in a rare news conference last month, said the constitution would be open to gradual improvement after the May referendum.

Some junta opponents who were prepared to swallow the army-drafted charter, if only because it could be changed later, were alarmed by the omission and have decided to vote "no" in the plebiscite, whose precise date is yet to be announced.

"We were surprised to see the discrepancy," said one retired lawyer, who did not wish to be named.

"All my friends who had said having a constitution would be better than having no constitution have changed their minds."