Myanmar in the spotlight: will the military play ball this time around?

WITH the successful staging of its historic Nov 8 general election, Myanmar marks a major milestone in the journey of economic, social and political revival it has undertaken in recent years after decades of military rule.

But further political reform must come as the resource-rich nation strives towards realising its potential as possibly the fastest-growing economy in South-east Asia, if not Asia. While the official final results are not expected for another week or more, the tally so far points to a landslide win for opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD). It has so far (with nearly half the seats declared) clinched more than 90 per cent of the vote.

The ruling military-backed Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) - which has apparently garnered only 5 per cent of the contested seats so far - seems to have accepted the people's will equably: it has said that the government will abide by the outcome of the election and "work on transferring power peacefully" to the NLD. President Thein Sein - the former army general who has steered the country towards free-market reforms over the past five years - has reportedly congratulated Ms Suu Kyi on her party's success and also agreed to her request to hold reconciliation talks soon, although only after the results are officially finalised.