lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

290population per sq kmMYANMAR USAUK≈ 30 peopleMyanmar(Burma) Today» GDP percapita: $435» Cost of a mobilephone SIMcard: $1000» Internetusers: 0.1% ofthe population» PoliticalPrisoners: 1994(June 2011;source www.aappb.org)Roadmap to Democracy?In October 2010 Myanmar went to the polls for its first national election in20 years, part of the generals’ plan for a ‘discipline flourishing democracy’.Following the victory of the military-backed Union Solidarity & DevelopmentParty (USDP), National League for Democracy (NLD) leader AungSan Suu Kyi was released from her latest stint of house arrest – and instantlyjumped into the fray, and rounds of interviews with the international media,reminding people of the 2100 other political prisoners still in detention.To everyone’s surprise, a new national flag was unveiled at the end ofthe year, while in February 2011 a quasi-civilian parliament convened forits initial sessions, replacing the military regime’s State Peace and DevelopmentCouncil (SPDC). A new president, former general and old prime ministerThein Sein, was ‘chosen’ by the elected reps to take over from SeniorGeneral Than Shwe, Myanmar’s supreme ruler for the past two decades.When the new parliament was sworn in at the end of March and anew head of the military, Min Aung Hlaing, was announced, a tick appearedagainst the seventh, and final, step on the junta’s ‘roadmap todemocracy’. In response, neither the US nor the EU fully dropped theirsanctions against Myanmar, but both softened their stance – the formerappointing Derek Mitchell as a special envoy, the latter easing travelrestrictions on key members of the new government.A ‘Deeply Flawed’ ElectionHas much changed in Myanmar? Over 30 different political parties didmanage to jump through a considerable number of hoops to contest theelection, including the National Democratic Force (NDF), a breakawaygroup from the NLD that, unlike its parent party, decided to participatein the poll. However, few were surprised by the results, which saw theTravel Literature DocumentariesThe Trouser People JournalistAndrew Marshall retraces thesteps of Sir George Scott, whotraversed unmapped corners ofBritish Burma in the late 1800s.Golden Earth Norman Lewis’saccount of his trip throughBurma in the turbulent 1950s.Finding George Orwell inBurma Sarah Larkin's evocativeand perceptive traveloguerecounts Orwell’s days here asa colonial policeman, as wellas the modern-day plight ofMyanmar.Burma VJ About the monks’uprising in 2007.Burma Soldier The journey ofa Burmese soldier from juntasupporter to democracy activist.This Prison Where I LiveCovers the plight of politicalprisoner Zargana.