After years of secrecy, Myanmar holds landmark news conference

Myanmar President Thein Sein talks during a press conference at Presidential House in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012. (AP / Khin Maung Win)

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar -- Myanmar's reformist president on Sunday held his first press conference for local press, a milestone after years of secrecy and censorship by the former military regime.

Thein Sein didn't break any stunning news when he answered about 30 questions from local press and foreign correspondents on subjects ranging from fighting with ethnic rebels in the north to amending the country's military-fashioned constitution.

His mere appearance, however, told the story about his country's turn from secrecy and paranoia to relative openness. The press conference in the capital Naypyitaw ran 20 minutes past its scheduled 2-hour length.

The 67-year-old ex-general, who served as prime minister under the previous ruling junta, looked tense as he started answering questions but soon relaxed enough to reveal a little-known sense of humour.

Explaining why he was holding the pioneering press conference, he told of being interviewed many times during his recent visit to the United States and said he had the hardest time answering questions on the inquisitorial BBC program, HardTalk.

After surviving that experience, he said, he's no longer afraid of meeting with the media. But he added that he feared he would also be criticized by Myanmar's media if he didn't come out to talk at home after giving so many interviews abroad.

Thein Sein avoided revealing too much, speaking only in general terms even about critical matters such as the fighting in Kachin state, which reflects a deeper, long-running problem of how much autonomy to give the large ethnic minorities living in border regions.

In what many see as an example of the government's weakness compared to the still-influential military, his orders last year for the army to cease its fighting against the Kachin Independence Army were ignored.

"To get a cease-fire agreement is our government's goal," he said when asked about the matter. "It's the people's desire to get peace and we are doing our best for the people's desire."

He was also asked whether he plans to contest the 2015 election for a second presidential term. He replied that he has been thinking only of his current term.

Thein Sein was asked if he would give opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, his ally in the reform program after being freed from house arrest, a role in his government. Through his reform program, Thein Sein lured her National League for Democracy party back into electoral politics, and it should pose a major challenge to his party in the next polls.

Whether or not she takes a role in government depends on her, Thein Sein said.