Foreign investors will not come and do things without any returns for themselves. And we don't expect them to come work for us free. But the local population should benefit rightfully. The locals should benefit just a little more than the companies.

I think, if you have enough inner resources, then you can live in isolation for long periods of time and not feel diminished by it.

My attitude is, do as much as I can while I'm free. And if I'm arrested I'll still do as much as I can.

It's very difficult to have any faith in the sincerity of the SLORC about stamping out drug production if they find it so easy to forgive a drug baron whom at one time they said they would never, never forgive and would never, never regard as anything but a drug runner. The SLORC is far more aggressive in its attitude toward the National League for Democracy than against drug traffickers.

Challenges mean opportunities as well.

Part of our struggle is to make the international community understand that we are a poor country not because there is an insufficiency of resources and investment, but because we are deprived of the basic institutions and practices that make for good government.

I still oppose "Visit Myanmar Year," and I would ask tourists to stay away. Burma is not going to run away. They should come back to Burma at a time when it is a democratic society where people are secure - where there is justice, where there is rule of law. They'll have a much better time. And they can travel around Burma with a clear conscience.