Burma’s military government has promised that May's referendum on a new constitution will be free and fair and that the charter will be open to improvement.
"The government will try to make the forthcoming referendum free and fair and I'd like to call on journalists to help make it a success," Information Minister Kyaw Hsan told reporters.
Foreign journalists have normally been invited to Burma for the March 27th Army Day ceremonies but were barred from this year's event, the first since last year's anti-regime protests led by Buddhist monks.
Noting the gradual evolution of the US constitution, Brig Gen Kyaw Hsan said there would be scope to improve the charter, which gives the army a quarter of the seats in parliament and the right to stage a coup whenever it wants.
"Something is better than nothing. Having a constitution is better than having no constitution. Once we have something, we can improve it gradually step by step," he said.
The date of May's referendum has not yet been announced, although the generals have rebuffed a United Nations offer of international monitors and technical assistance.
The rejection intensified fears of a repeat of 1990, when the generals chose to ignore the results of an election in which the opposition National League for Democracy, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won more than 80 per cent of the seats.