The odd and inspiring politics of Myanmar

The image of an elegant woman clad in a traditional htamein sarong, walking purposefully in her kitten heels into Myanmar's grandiose parliament to oversee the handover of power to her party was striking though hardly dramatic. But for many regional observers, the ascent of Aung San Suu Kyi from political prisoner to de facto leader of Myanmar signified a democratic shift as momentous as the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

For in the space of just five years, Myanmar has gone from being Asia's embarrassing problem child to an inspiration -- albeit somewhat dysfunctional -- for new democracies everywhere. With the advent of a popularly elected government led by Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy, Myanmar's extraordinary transition from harsh military rule and economic decline to emerging democracy and economic revival is now in its most critical phase since Gen. Ne Win's 1962 military coup. (Courtesy of Nikkei Asian Review)