YANGON: Myanmar’s leaders may be willing to open their country’s economy, release political prisoners, and let dissidents speak their minds, at least some of the time.

But it seems there’s still one thing the country’s reformist government won’t abide: Calling the country “Burma.”

In a tersely-worded statement published Friday in the New Light of Myanmar, a government mouthpiece, the country’s Union Election Commission called on the opposition National League for Democracy party to stick to the official “Republic of the Union of Myanmar” instead of using the colonial-era “Burma,” which is favored by many dissidents (as well as the U.S. government).

“No one has the right” to use the name Burma because the nation’s constitution calls for longer form of “Myanmar,” and all parties must follow the constitution, the notice said.

The warning came after opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi referred to “Burma” in her recent travels overseas, including a speech at a World Economic Forum gathering in Bangkok earlier this month. She also used the name during her tour to various European countries this month, authorities noted.

In an interview with Southeast Asia Real Time, NLD spokesman Nyan Win acknowledged receipt of warnings from the government about using the name Burma, but he added that the party would have to discuss the matter with Ms. Suu Kyi upon her return from Europe before deciding how to proceed. “For centuries we have called the country Burma in English. It is not against the law,” he said.

Myanmar’s former military junta officially changed the country’s name to Myanmar from Burma in 1989 – a move officials have said was designed at least in part to help reconnect the country with its past before the colonial era. The term “Myanmar” was used in various forms for hundreds of years before the arrival of British settlers, many of whom mistakenly thought locals were saying something akin to “Burma” when they pronounced the country’s name.

The junta handed power to a new nominally-civilian government last year after five decades in power. Since then, Myanmar leaders have embarked on wide-ranging reforms that experts say are designed at least in part to convince Western governments to ease economic sanctions against the country – which the U.S. and Europe are now in the process of doing.

But many officials still get testy about the use of the name “Burma” because they suspect it constitutes an intentional snub by dissidents looking for any way to raise doubts about the legitimacy of the country’s government. One problem with that logic, though, is that even some government officials are known to use the term “Burma” in private conversations, presumably out of habit given its longstanding and still-widespread use in the country.

The statement issued Friday clearly lists the reasons behind the warning, said Ye Htut, a spokesman for Myanmar’s Ministry of Information, in an email to Southeast Asia Real Time. “It is not overly sensitive, it is rule of law,” he said.