IT FELT like the first day of school. On February 1st freshly sworn-in legislators belonging to the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party led by Myanmar’s Nobel peace-prize winning campaigner for democracy, Aung San Suu Kyi (pictured, in pink), walked uncertainly through the parliament’s cavernous corridors in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital. Some looked bewildered. Others smiled and chatted with old friends, brimming with excitement. A small kiosk selling souvenirs did brisk business as new MPs bought key rings, fridge magnets and postcards depicting their unfamiliar new workplace. It is part of a sprawling complex of official buildings built by an unelected junta to withstand a popular uprising. Now, for the first time, it is about to be controlled by an elected government.
For some, getting to parliament on that opening day had involved an arduous trek. It took two of the MPs 15 days by foot, on horseback and by bus just to reach the airport nearest their village, high up in the mountains near Tibet. Others had endured greater hardship: more than 100 of the NLD’s MPs served time in prison for the crime of belonging to the party. One, Bo Bo...Continue reading
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