Myanmar, let your people go!

Myanmar has begun the release of what it said will eventually be more than 6,300 prisoners under a mass amnesty. According to a rights group, there were just 70 political prisoners among the inmates freed by noon local time (6:30pm NZDT). One of the prisoners is a major-general who had 99 years to go on a 105-year sentence for sedition, but they can do better than just 70 prisoners of conscience. Myanmar's mass amnesty is one in a series of recent moves that could help the isolated nation normalize relations with Western nations including the United States but to me, it's probably just a ruse. Since the coup in 1962, the nation has been going downhill. In 1970, Ne Win switched traffic on Myanmar's roads to the right-hand side apparently on the advice of a wizard, a consequence of this being that the only border with Thailand where you don't have to change the side of the road you're on is a short border with Malaysia. And let's not forget the mass demonetisations of money during the late 1980s or all the weird denominations of currency (notes worth 35, 45, 75, and 90 kyat will be familiar to some) that were introduced under Ne Win. The economic disturbances that resulted from all this caused serious rioting and another coup. It's about time the place got its long-overdue Arab Spring cleaning.