“I can reveal to you that the junta has been looking for a model closer to Indonesia where there was a transition from military to civilian rule and ultimately to democracy,” Dr Gambari said in an interview with Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper.

Dr Gambari, who visited Burma earlier this month, said the country’s military rulers were also studying the experience of Thailand, which had previously come under army rule, the report said.

The Indonesian model of transition to civilian rule was engineered by then president Suharto, an army general who seized power in 1966 in the violent aftermath of a botched coup blamed on the Indonesian communist party.

Suharto, who assumed the presidency in 1968, later retired from the military but ensured that the armed forces would continue to play a key role in the country’s politics. Under his rule, the military was guaranteed seats in parliament and officers held key posts as administrators.

Suharto also consolidated various political parties under a single party during his 30-year rule that ended following massive street demonstrations in 1998.

Burma’s ruling military has embarked on a “roadmap” to democracy, which includes the recently finished drafting of a new constitution. The charter will be put to a referendum in May and followed by elections in 2010.

The Straits Times said Dr Gambari spoke at length on the proposed Burma constitution, which bars detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from running in the elections and is dismissed by critics as another means for the junta to remain in power.

Dr Gambari said the charter’s text includes clauses that would keep the military’s dominant role in politics.

About 25 per cent of the parliamentary seats would go to the junta, which would have the power to appoint personnel to key ministries such as defence, home affairs and border affairs, the report quoted Dr Gambari as saying.

While the proposed constitution calls for a multiparty democracy with regular elections, it gives extensive powers with the president, who can appoint or dismiss legislative and judicial officials, the report added.

The interview with Dr Gambari in New York came after the envoy’s latest visit to Burma from March 6-9 which he said was disappointing.

During his trip, the junta refused his proposal to amend the constitution and rejected an offer of UN technical assistance and foreign observers during the referendum.

While Dr Gambari held two meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi, he was unable to see junta leader General Tan Shwe.