Barack Obama has arrived in Yangon

Today, US President Barack Obama is in Yangon, giving a speech about democracy and praising Myanmar for the steps they’ve taken to achieve democratic change with the NLD (National League for Democracy, which elected their current president Thein Sein in 2011, thus ending a half-century of a brutal military dictatorship). It is a very exciting and historic event, but I worry that Obama’s visit is coming too soon, while oppression and lack of government transparency still exist widely throughout this country.  Many political prisoners from the pre-democratic era are still being detained unjustly. If Obama acknowledges this, as well as the violence currently taking place in the Rakhine State, perhaps the President of Myanmar will be influenced to put an end to it. If not, I think that this visit could been seen as premature and superficial, and the support that the US is offering to the NLD is coming too soon.

I must say, though, watching the people around me gather around a little TV screen to watch the streets of Yangon filling with people waving flags and smiling is really amazing.  This is a very big deal for the people of this country, who have been struggling against a violent military regime to attain freedom and democracy for many decades.