Daily Lessons from Life 01 April 2012 - For Suu Kyi, a new role and heavier burden

"For Suu Kyi, a new role and heavier burden - Reuters Sunday, Apr 01, 2012

YANGON - Soe Thein is a pious man. Every evening he kneels before a Buddhist shrine in his Yangon home to pray for the only woman he believes can lead Myanmar to a brighter future.

"I pray for Aung San Suu Kyi's health and long life," says Soe Thein, formerly a political prisoner and senior member of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

"Who could replace her?"

Suu Kyi's role in a reforming Myanmar will be no less essential after her strong performance in Sunday's historic by-elections, winning a seat in a parliament dominated by the military and the rival party it created.

But after two decades in opposition, much of it spent as a prisoner of the former junta, Suu Kyi now faces a slew of unfamiliar challenges.

"Converting people's expectations into political reality is the big challenge now," says analyst Richard Horsey, a former United Nations official in Myanmar. "And for a country as poor as Myanmar, that means addressing the plight of families and their ability to put food on the table, educate their children and look after their health."

Just 17 months ago, Suu Kyi was under house arrest and her party outlawed. Sometimes portrayed as stubborn and unrealistic, her rapid journey from prisoner to parliamentarian is the result of a bold and pragmatic engagement with President Thein Sein that remains critical to Myanmar's reform process."

This is NO April Fool's joke. It is for real. She is a parliamentarian now.

Lessons for me are:

1. another Nelson Mandela's story in the making? I hope so even though South Africa still has some of the old problems but life definitely has been better for many of the oppressed blacks. An improvement and a work in progress;

2. Will Suu Kyi do it? I hope so too. With the alleged utterly corrupt government and bureacrats that some who are familiar with doing business in Myanmar, she will be fighting systemic corruption and not just a dozen or two corrupt officials;

3. what exactly do the Myanmar people want? The government is opening up to foreign investment and all. I hope it DOES NOT make the same mistake, hard to do as the pattern of a close economy opening up in this part of the world, like allowing land grab, allowing property prices to sky rocket, creating millionnaire out of property developers, industrialization, etc. Hopefully they DO look at what are the natural advantages of Myanmar instead of just letting in more manufacturing investment and speculative property wealth hunters! I may be wrong with this line of thinking as many government in this region seems to think that to have a prospering property market is a must for economy to grown quickly!

All to the best to Ms Suu Kyi and the people of Myanmar. May democracy brings true joy, peace, stability, freedom with responsibility and happiness, with or without prosperity.