Victims’ Voices and Healing a Must for Genuine Reconciliation

Much has been made of the series of meetings between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and several key individuals after the elections, including the current Commander-in-Chief of the Burma Army, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. But none generated more headlines than the meeting on 4 December, 2015 with retired Senior General Than Shwe, leader of the former military junta and head of state until 2011, purportedly to discuss and ensure a smooth transition of power.

Such meetings, while raising eyebrows, are more than just symbolic and should be read in the context of Burma’s troubled past with elections and power transfer. The emphatic victory at the November 2015 polls was similar to the 1990 elections, which later saw the annulment of the results and extension of power by the military.

Seen in this light, these meetings reveal the complexity of the power transfer, the actors that still wield considerable political capital, and the different interests in directing the transition. It is also fair to infer that a relatively seamless power transfer to the incoming National League for Democracy (NLD) Government can be expected, given the apparent endorsement and pledge of support from senior figures from the previous military regime such as Than Shwe […]

JADE: Myanmar’s “Big State Secret”

Since 2011, Myanmar’s rebranded government has told the world it is transitioning from a pariah state run by a ruthless military dictatorship to a civilian regime committed to wholesale political and economic reforms […]