Har Burma / Myanmar startet på den lange veien mot demokrati?

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eller er det bare et midlertidig tøvær?

 

Myanmar: Long road ahead

 

From dictatorship to quasi democracy in less than a year, the pace of change in Myanmar has stunned even the most cynical observers of the country.

 

The decision by Aung San Suu Kyi to rejoin the country’s military-backed political system has offered a veneer of legitimacy for the

reform efforts of President Thein Sein.

 

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Thein Sein has a “critical one-year window” to show that this liberalisation can work, said Thant Myint-U, a historian, former United Nations official and one of the leading experts on the country.

 

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“It’s far harder to be optimistic about the economy. There’s no proper judicial system. There’s no proper banking system, no system to help finance economic growth, where businesses can go get a loan.”

 

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Political harmony in the country may to some degree now depend on whether the détente between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military-backed government lasts. Above all, perhaps, the country faces huge challenges in fixing its economy, especially in the realm of banking and finance.

 

Se også:

 

Reuters) - Myanmar vowed on Saturday to address concerns raised by U.S. President Barack Obama, outlining far-reaching plans to make peace with ethnic rebels, gradually release all political prisoners and relax controls on freedom of expression.

 

But its government, fearing an Arab Spring-style revolution if it moves too quickly, stressed reforms must be gradual after nearly a half century of isolation and authoritarian rule that ended when the army handed power in March to a civilian parliament stacked with former generals.

 

No longer Southeast Asia's pariah state, Myanmar won a powerful endorsement on Friday when Obama announced Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would visit the resource-rich country neighboring China, the highest-ranking American to do so since a 1962 military coup. Obama cited "flickers of progress."

Kilde: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/19/us-myanmar-reforms-idUSL3E7MJ05Q20111119

 

NUSA DUA, Indonesia — UN leader Ban Ki-moon said Saturday he would visit Myanmar as soon as possible to propel reforms, in the latest high-profile mission triggered by hopes of a shift to democracy.

 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will also travel to Myanmar on December 1-2, to investigate whether the new military-backed leadership there is serious about allowing political and economic change.

 

Ban said on the sidelines of an East Asia Summit where President Barack Obama Friday announced Clinton's historic visit -- the first by a US secretary of state in 50 years -- that he would visit Myanmar "as soon as possible".

 

He said that in talks with Myanmar's President Thein Sein he urged more progress on the fledgling reforms which have seen the government hold direct talks with opposition leader Aung Suu Suu Kyi.

 

Kilde: UN's Ban to visit Myanmar to propel reforms