Myanmar 01 (Sep 08 - Jan 23)

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Myanmar: Free and Fair?
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/101 ... 57221.html

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反對派料大勝　點票結果龜速發放
全民盟斥當局拖延「玩花樣」
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/internati ... 1/19368163

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Myanmar president and army chief congratulate Suu Kyi
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/11/m ... 02625.html

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Myanmar's hidden war
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/1 ... ws-videos/

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Myanmar’s general election

A new era

Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s opposition leader, has won a great victory. Now she must change the country

FOR once the headline of the Global New Light of Myanmar, the rag that churns out the paranoid delusions of Myanmar’s ruling generals, told the real story: “Dawn of a New Era”. Even before a final result is declared, it is plain that the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace-prize winner, has won by a landslide in Myanmar’s first free, but far from fair, election in 25 years.

The NLD seems likely to have won enough seats to secure a majority—even with a quarter of the parliamentary seats reserved for the army. That is a remarkable victory for Miss Suu Kyi, a vindication of her policy of compromise with the generals and a repudiation of decades of military rule (see article).

One of Asia’s most isolated and brutal dictatorships may thus be setting a democratic example to an ever more autocratic neighbourhood: in recent years Thailand has suffered a military coup (again), China and Vietnam have been locking up more dissenters and bloggers than ever and Malaysia’s government has clung to power only through rigged elections.

Amid the euphoria though, there is a nagging fear that Myanmar’s generals will seek to frustrate the people’s will. The early signs are that they will not do so blatantly, as they did when they ignored Miss Suu Kyi’s last general-election success in 1990. But apart from their parliamentary block, the generals retain control of the army, police and key ministries as well as much of the civil service. The army-inspired constitution ensures that Miss Suu Kyi cannot become president.

Yet the ruling party’s defeat is such that the army’s hope for a “disciplined” democracy is no longer tenable, if it ever was. The generals must now accept that their best hope of preserving their interests is to co-operate with the NLD in a process of thorough reform, including constitutional change. In Miss Suu Kyi they have a figure of authority willing to set aside bygones.

Undermining her would strengthen those who think the generals should be pursued for human-rights abuses and ill-gotten gains; worse, it could plunge Myanmar into renewed and possibly bloody turmoil.

For now, Miss Suu Kyi says she will call the shots from outside government if, as seems likely, the next president hails from the NLD. During the campaign she said little about her strategy for running the country. She attracted many voters purely with her charisma.

Much to ASSK of the lady

After the victory Miss Suu Kyi must speak up and try to govern, even with her hands tied. She must still tread carefully in her dealings with the generals, but she must also be firm in setting a timetable for them to withdraw from politics and surrender their dominance of the economy. Indeed, she must draw up policies to give investors the confidence needed to develop the country’s agricultural and mineral bounty.

She will need to foster a spirit of inclusiveness. Myanmar’s wretched state, after all, is only partly the result of military rule; another cause is the nationalism of the ethnic Burman majority, which has exacerbated conflicts with other ethnic groups living along Myanmar’s borders. Miss Suu Kyi must seek to stop the wars and create a federal system that makes minorities feel safer.

She should give citizenship and property rights to the roughly 1m Rohingyas, thousands of whom are fleeing oppression by taking to the sea in rickety boats. Miss Suu Kyi has been disturbingly silent about their plight.

The daughter of Aung San, who led Burma to independence, Miss Suu Kyi has endured years of house arrest and much else. She might yet become the president that most Burmese clearly want. But her greatest tests still lie ahead.


Source: The Economist

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Myanmar election: Suu Kyi's NLD wins landslide victory
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34805806

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Uncertainty looms for Myanmar's Muslims
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/featur ... 45438.html

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中國反腐拖累　緬玉價跌35%
仰光商人稱影響甚於政壇變天
http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/internati ... 1447750300

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Former Myanmar military ruler Than Shwe 'supports new leader'
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-35019032

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Inside Myanmar's first stock exchange
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35056538