In the last couple of days, the press has been granted much greater freedoms in Burma. They held elections last year and even released Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest (only a year or 2 after they extended it because some nutjob broke in uninvited).
What (or who) prompted the sudden wave of reforms? The Wikipedia page on said reforms doesn't really say much about the motivations of the ruling junta, or even their current status. And they were happy carrying out repression for 50 years previously