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The president of Myanmar, formerly Burma, released a video this week, telling his people why in November's election they should vote for his Union Solidarity and Development Party. The country's other dominant political figure, representing the opposition National League of Democracy, is Aung San Suu Kyi. Her message is one of fast reforms, sweeping change and great of representation for ethnic minorities.
Myanmar's moved on from the days of military rule when political opponents were jailed and tortured. Its economy is surging ahead. But Leo Johnson says there are many who feel they're seeing little benefit.
I'm gazing across a Formica table into the eyes of Ashin Wirathu, the monk they call the Buddhist Bin Laden. He is not a big smiler, Wirathu. For the last hour of our interview, high up in his monastery in Mandalay, the old royal capital of Myanmar, he's been giving me the same deadpan expression that he wore on the cover of Time magazine. Beside the headline is this The Face Of Buddhist Terror. But some muscle contraction has just rippled around the smile lines of his eyes. And I'm wondering just what he's gonna say next.
I've come to Myanmar in the run-up to the landmark November general elections to get a sense of what they could mean on the ground.
Aung San Suu Kyi, The Lady as they call her then Nobel Prize-winning, icon of democracy, freed finally from house arrest, is standing as head of the opposition NLD. So is it gameover for the generals?
Walk around downtown Mandalay and it doesn't look like a city under the jackboot of a military junta. | 
发表于 2016-9-28 21:25:46