The Economist: Reforms in Myanmar. Happy Days Again?

There was a brief lull following the excitement of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Myanmar at the beginning of December, perhaps because everyone paused to take stock. This week the story of Myanmar's gradual reform seemed to be back on track, with two more dramatic and hopeful developments: A significant release of political prisoners on January 13th, and a ceasefire agreement between the Burmese government and one of the main ethnic armed groups, the Karen National Union (KNU), the day before. The prisoner release, along with the one before, constitutes the most solid evidence that the regime is serious about changing its ways. The freeing of all the country's 2000 political prisoners has been one of the most consistent and forceful demands posed by Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of the opposition, and Western governments over the years. Ms Clinton reiterated the same on her visit. Indeed, people had hoped for another round of prisoner releases around the time of her trip, though nothing happened then. Now, just when a trace of skepticism was creeping in about the whole reform process, the government has released 651 prisoners in one go under its amnesty program. At the time of this writing it's not clear exactly how many of the freed men and women can be classified as "political", but it's already evident that this batch includes many of the most prominent jailed dissidents, some of which have spent decades in and out of the so-called 88 Generation movement, made up of those who took part in the student uprisings of 1988 and later.