Few acts indicate the remarkable transformation under way in Myanmar than the recent release of former prime minister Khin Nyunt.
Khin Nyunt is the former chief of the country's feared military intelligence apparatus. He was pictured laughing with reporters outside his Yangon home after spending eight years in detention and house arrest. He was jailed following a purge in 2004.
For years, Khin Nyunt played an important role in Myanmar's military junta during and after the bloody suppression of nationwide pro-democracy protests in 1988.
Yet there Khin Nyunt, 73, was now, smiling freely. He said he was pleased to see opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (once his staunch foe) talking with his former military counterpart, President Thein Sein.
He lauded the country's new parliament and press freedoms.
Back in the day, when he ran the country's secretive regime, he was not known for such breeziness.