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ongratulations to the people of Myanmar for holding peaceful and almost orderly by-elections on Sunday, the most democratic and transparent elections that the country has seen in over two decades. There may have been reports of irregularities here and there, but they were mostly the kind commonly found in many of Myanmar’s neighbors.

The election of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is the clearest indication that the local polls were as fair and open as they could have been for a nation that has just emerged from more than two decades of military dictatorship. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate won a seat representing the Kwahmu district in the nation’s largest city, Yangon. Early exit polls suggest that her National League of Democracy (NLD) party took 19 of the 45 contested seats.

With the military having relinquished direct rule in 2010, the NLD’s return to parliament should enliven Myanmar’s democracy by becoming an effective opposition party to the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is comprised mostly of military officers. One would hope that the military will respect the poll results and not be tempted to deprive Suu Kyi and her NLD of their right to represent and fight for the aspirations of the people. In 1990, the military seized power after Suu Kyi won the general election and put her under house arrest for the next two decades.

Indonesia and Myanmar’s neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had a huge stake in Sunday’s elections. They agreed to let Myanmar take the rotating chair of ASEAN in 2014 on the assumption that the military-controlled regime would live up to its promises to allow for greater freedom and a greater say for its people.

There is really no going back for ASEAN on this commitment. Everything is up to Myanmar, with NLD playing an opposition role in parliament, to show that democracy can begin to take roots in the country.

It’s been a long road to democracy for Myanmar — as it has been for all emerging democracies. We wish the people of Myanmar success in their endeavor. We look forward to Auntie Suu, as the 66-year-old pro-democracy leader is affectionately called, pushing the envelope to turn Burma, now officially called Myanmar, into a great Southeast Asian country, as it once was.