YANGON/NAYPYITAW: At the beginning of this year, Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi sat down with one of her advisers to go through priorities for the coming months. She began with an apology for the slow pace of economic reform. “You must be very disappointed,” she said. “You know, my plan had been that we would get the peace process done and then I would be able to bring my attention – personally – to the economy.” The remark, recounted to Reuters by the adviser speaking on condition of anonymity, offers a rare insight into Suu Kyi’s thinking on what some critics say are the defining issues of her first year in power: continued fighting with ethnic armed groups in the north, sluggish progress on retooling an economy stunted by decades of military rule, and a reluctance to delegate power to others. Suu Kyi – who had been globally celebrated as a heroine of democracy – took over last April, forming Myanmar’s first civilian government in half a century amid soaring hopes among both her backers in Western governments and ordinary voters at home. A year on things look very different. Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Council moved to probe allegations of crimes against humanity committed against Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar soldiers on the watch of the Nobel Peace Prize winner. Suu Kyi’s support for the security operation in northwestern Rakhine State, during which about 75,000 members of the stateless Rohingya minority have fled to Bangladesh, has strained relations with the West. U.N. officials have told Reuters more than 1,000 people may have been killed. Meanwhile, the government’s domestic performance has struggled to match the optimism that swept her National League for Democracy (NLD) to a landslide election win. “Many voters feel frustrated,” said NLD lawmaker Myo Zaw Aung, citing pervasive low-level corruption as one source of disaffection among a population who also face ramshackle public services and wages among the lowest in Southeast Asia. “People had sky-high expectations for NLD, but actually the change can’t be that dramatic – they are not seeing an obvious change at the grassroots level.” Suu Kyi’s spokesman, Zaw Htay, did not respond to Reuters’ questions about the government’s first year in office. Requests for an interview with Suu Kyi have gone unanswered or have been rejected over the past year. She has given only two interviews, both to broadcasters overseas, in that time. When she came to power, Suu Kyi said her number one priority was ending the myriad ethnic conflicts involving more than 20 rebel groups that have kept Myanmar in a state of near-perpetual civil war since independence in 1948.