Can Burma Sustain Pace of Reform?

Can Burma Sustain Pace of Reform?

“It’s a different city,” Kyaw Lin, says about the recent changes in Yangon, the former capital of Burma. “We’re not afraid to talk now, it’s like we’re finally seeing the light,” he says as he finishes a cup of Chinese tea at a downtown teashop.

 

Like many of his generation, for most of his life 23-year-old Kyaw Lin was enraged by the regime’s mismanagement of the country. Slowly this rage faded, and he gradually gave up all hope of making a life in Burma, instead dreaming of a life abroad. “I was saving up to go to Singapore,” he says. “But with all these changes, I think I might stay here after all”.

 

Since coming to power through elections deemed neither free nor fair, President Thein Sein, a former general himself, has led a series of reforms, changes which have many inside Burma once again feeling proud of their country. “Before I felt ashamed to be part of this country,” Kyaw Lin says. “But with the reforms taking place, and the interest from foreigners again, we could be a leading Asian country”.

 

The most visual change in Burma is that images of Aung San Suu Kyi are everywhere. Posters are hung up on walls, she appears on front pages of newspapers, and most symbolic of progress, young and old walk the streets sporting Suu Kyi T-shirts. Just over a year ago, this would have led to harassment by the secret police, if not worse.

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