JOIN USMyanmar in the grip of winds of change
The overall number of the releases was not immediately known, but by all accounts it fell well short of the 2,000 or so political prisoners estimated by Amnesty International to be held behind bars, and analysts differed in assessing their significance.
The pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told a gathering of supporters in the main city, Yangon, that about 100 political prisoners had been freed and that “we hope many more will be released.”
“As I have often said, the independence of everybody is priceless,” she said. “I’m really thankful for the release of political prisoners.”
Amnesty International estimated that 120 political prisoners had been released by late afternoon and called it a minimum first step toward the unconditional release of all such prisoners.
The freeing of political prisoners has been an important demand of the United States as it seeks ways to engage with Myanmar, which it has ostracized with economic and political sanctions. Officials in Washington said they would be watching closely to see who was released under an amnesty that the government had said would include 6,300 prisoners of all types.
One of the first political prisoners known to be released was a popular comedian named Zarganar, whose arrest in 2008 for criticizing the government drew an international outcry. He told reporters in Myanmar on Wednesday that he was not satisfied with the extent of the releases and said, “I will be happy and I will thank the government only when all my friends are freed.”
Bo Kyi, co-founder of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thai-based group that tracks the plight of jailed dissidents in Myanmar, also said that, although the numbers might rise, he was not satisfied with the initial releases.
“What they have given us is the same as previous governments,” he said, referring to partial releases of political prisoners at moments in the past when the military junta wanted to placate or impress foreign governments.
“I don’t see any political change,” he said. “It is very important for the government to recognize the existence of political prisoners and to release them unconditionally.”
But taken together with a broad range of steps in what was until recently a monolithic and inflexible system, the releases pointed to changes unlike any that have been seen for decades.
An election last year that was clearly engineered to favour pro-military parties produced a national Parliament and 14 regional parliaments that represent an jf agendas, some of which seem to ng addressed now, said David I. Steinberg, a professor of Asian studies at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington.
“It’s the most open setup since 1962,” , referring to a coup that ushered a century of military rule. “We are talking about basically 50 years now. This is the first election where they have actually got people in government in opposition...So we are seeing something important happening.”
Priscilla A. Clapp, who was the top United States diplomat in Myanmar a decade ago and closely follows events there, said been amazed by the array of changes in just the last few months.
“I think we are set back on our heels at the speed at which things are happening,” she said.
“The thing that amazes me is that it is happening on all fronts,” she said. “It’s not just one thing that they're looking at It started with major macro-economic reform that is clearly under way, and it has moved into political reform.”
The new president, U Thein Sein, a retired general, has taken a series of steps that include overtures to rebellious ethnic minorities, an easing of restrictions on the news media and more communication with Mrs Aung San Suu Kyi.
Several meetings
She was released last year from 15 years of house arrest and has had several meetings with officials, including Thein Sein.
The government’s official mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar, printed a ditty on Wednesday that seemed to reflect back on two lost decades, since the most recent junta took office, in progress toward democracy.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
The military, which controls virtually all aspects of life in Myanmar, nominally handed over power to a civilian government in March but dominates the legislature and remains the centre of power behind the scenes.
The bottom line remains the survival and retention of power of the military regime, said Bertil Lintner, a journalist and Myanmar specialist.
“There’s nothing that actually alters the fundamental structure of the country,” he said of the current changes. “A lot of things are being done to improve their international-image.
But even cosmetic changes can have unintended consequences. Look at Gorbachev. It wasn’t his intention to dissolve the Soviet Union.”
Since late 2007, some 2,000 people have been imprisoned on political grounds, about half of them because of their participation in an uprising that year that was led by monks and crushed in a wave of violence and arrests.
Among those released on Wednesday was a leader of those demonstrations, U Gambira, according to Amnesty International.
The group said that so far the releases had not differed greatly from similar releases in the past and added that many political prisoners had in the past been re-arrested shortly after being set free. Aung San Suu Kyi, it noted, had been detained and released three-times.