Few people, in Burma or the outside world, had high expectations when last March the army handed power to a quasi-civilian government after decades of repressive military rule. The handover followed a tightly controlled, some say rigged, election under a new constitution that preserved vast military power, including the right automatically to appoint a quarter of the members of a new parliament. The designated president was hardly more promising. Thein Sein, a recently retired general, had made little impact in four years as prime minister during the junta led by army strongman Senior General Than Shwe.
今年3月份，缅甸军方结束了长达几十年的军事高压统治，把权力移交给准文职政府。当时，无论是缅甸国内还是国际社会，都没有多少人对该国的未来抱有很高的期待。权力移交之前，缅甸根据新宪法举行了一次受到严密控制的（也有人称之为“受到操纵的”）选举。新宪法为军方保留了非常大的权力，包括自动在新议会中获得四分之一席位的权利。新议会选出的总统吴登盛(Thein Sein)也很难让人抱有希望。吴登盛是一位退休不久的将军，曾在军方铁腕人物丹瑞大将(Senior General Than Shwe)领导下的军政府中担任了四年总理，在那段时间里，他鲜有建树。