ABSTRACT
Myanmar in 2012 witnessed continuation of a range of political and economic reforms, with wide ramifications on the country’s ethno-political landscape. The process of peace with the ethnic insurgencies, under the quasi-civilian regime of President Thein Sein, continued. The process, reminiscent of a peace project mostly pushed from other countries, especially the West, resulted in several ceasefire agreements with most of the ethnic armed groups in 2011 and early parts of 2012. These agreements formed the basis of Naypyidaw’s claim to long-term peace with its ethnic minorities. Notwithstanding the excitement in the West and the Southeast Asian region about Myanmar’s new avatar, several experts continued to link the future of these peace agreements with the strength and influence of the hardliners vis-à-vis the reformists within the administration. Accordingly, assessments were made whether the hardline faction within the military could sabotage or decelerate the achievements. The year 2013 provides answers to some of these questions woven around contemporaneous optimist as well as pessimist assessments.
