The word “democracy” is, I think, only for the government-minded or racist Buddhists. There are good Buddhists; there are good Burman; and there are good Rakhine who are Buddhists, but democracy is not for them. Democracy is also not for the Mon, Shan, Kachin, or Karen, whom they are killing every day. They are also killing other minorities closer to the Chinese and Thai border. Democracy doesn't bring anything for them. Even Buddhists, if they utter anything against the government, will be dealt with right away. Against the Chinese multinational companies, if you see anything, if you raise your finger, it could be chopped off.
So how can we really say it is a democratization? It is taking time for them to come up or stabilize the situation. I get a lot of these things, but I would like to add just one more thing.
I get a lot of things: the Burmese troops are not trained, the police are not trained, to handle these things. This is sort of a major mass mobilization; they cannot control them. That is absolutely wrong. In 1988, there was a nationwide demonstration against the government. The police, army, naval forces, infantry, teachers, regular people, and everybody was involved. It was suppressed within 15 days, two weeks.
In 2007, the Saffron Revolution started the same day I flew back to Canada, when I was helping boat people. They suppressed it within one week. It depends on their will what they are going to do. This is a good excuse for them to bring the nationalists, or to show the fear. They want to portray themselves as a saviour of the country.