EDITORIAL - 'Cusp of a new era'

As of yesterday, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared assured of a parliament seat following by-elections that many feared would be tainted by fraud. The victory was claimed by Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, which fielded her for a seat in the lower house of parliament.

Announcement of the official outcome, to be made by the electoral commission, could take several days. Given the history of elections in Myanmar under the repressive junta, it could be premature for Suu Kyi’s party to celebrate a landslide victory across their country. In the 1990 general election, her party garnered 59 percent of the national votes and 392 of the 485 parliament seats, but the victory was not recognized by the junta. Before the election, Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest, and was detained for nearly 15 of 21 years until her release in November 2010.

It could help Suu Kyi’s cause that the votes are currently being officially tallied as the leaders’ summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is being held in Cambodia. Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin told his ASEAN counterparts at a meeting in Phnom Penh that he hoped the historic election, which he said went smoothly with a high turnout, would “contribute to a more effective integration of Myanmar into the global community.”

The integration would be hastened by Suu Kyi’s smooth and orderly assumption of her parliament seat. The Nobel laureate sounded a hopeful note yesterday, saying her nation was on “the cusp of a new era.”

Myanmar has in fact introduced reforms in recent months that have encouraged such hopes. A year ago it ended the military’s stranglehold on power, shifting to a quasi-civilian government. Yesterday, as part of efforts to attract more foreign investment, the government approved a managed flotation of the Myanmar currency, pegging the exchange rate at 818 kyat to the US dollar – close to the black market rate, and way above the state-pegged six kyat to the greenback. The steps toward reforms have been gingerly, but if these can be sustained, Myanmar is truly entering a new era.