Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Myanmar's national parliament is made up of the 440-seat People's Assembly ( Pyithu
Hluttaw ) and the 224-seat Upper House ( Amytha Hluttaw ). There are also seven state
legislatures.
Roadmap to Democracy
When the new parliament was sworn in at the end of March and a new head of the milit-
ary, Min Aung Hlaing, was announced, a tick appeared against the seventh, and final,
step on the junta's 'roadmap to democracy'. Given how glimmers of democratic hope for
Myanmar had been so cruelly snubbed in the recent past, many could be forgiven for tak-
ing with a pinch of salt Thein Sein's inaugural address, which promised meaningful re-
forms for the country, including tackling corruption and poverty.
However, a year later, after the president had met with Aung San Suu Kyi, started to
release political prisoners, diminished state censorship and enacted various laws to start
liberalising the economy (including allowing the kyat to float), it was becoming clear
that positive changes really were afoot in Myanmar. As international sanctions were
dropped and world leaders flew into Yangon, it seemed the country might well be on the
way to coming in from the cold.
A ceasefire in 2012 with Karen rebels also provided a hiatus to the longest-running in-
surrection in contemporary history. However, inter-ethnic and religious violence in
Rakhine State and central Myanmar has since tempered the feel-good factor about Myan-
mar's reforms, reminding everyone that there are significant difficulties for the country
to overcome.
Outrage: Burma's Struggle for Democracy by Bertl Lintner is one of several works by the
long-time Bangkok-based foreign correspondent and Burma expert, exploring the mach-
inations of Myanmar's military government.
TIMELINE
850 BC
According to Burmese chronicles, Abhiraja of the Sakyan clan from India founds Tagaung, 127
miles north of Mandalay; his son travels south and founds a kingdom at Rakhine (Arakan).
3rd century BC
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