BANGKOK -- If Aung San Suu Kyi had the right to speak out, it is unlikely she would thank Myanmar's military regime for its decision to release her from a harsh prison into a state-managed residence and reduce her 33-year combined sentence by a paltry six years. Yet headlines declaring the ousted leader had been "pardoned" dominated media coverage on Tuesday, while some analysts suggested the military-backed State Administration Council (SAC) had suddenly softened its position.
Suu Kyi's former economic adviser, Sean Turnell, summed up the news in a blog post for the Lowy Institute: "This is all out of an old playbook in Myanmar. ... Cynics, the ignorant, the gullible, and various vested interests in military rule in Myanmar will loudly exclaim this news as a positive development signifying real change. It is not."
