If I advocate cautious optimism it is not because I do not have faith in the future but because I do not want to encourage blind faith.

I feel that the BBC World Service is not as versatile as it used to be - or perhaps I'm not listening at the right times.

If you look at the democratic process as a game of chess, there have to be many, many moves before you get to checkmate. And simply because you do not make any checkmate in three moves does not mean it's stalemate. There's a vast difference between no checkmate and stalemate. This is what the democratic process is like.

At the moment I would like to emphasize the need for vocational training, for non-formal education in Burma to help all those young people who have suffered from a bad education. They have to be trained to earn their living. They have to have enough education vocational training to be able to set up respectable lives for themselves.

I think sometimes if you are alone, you are freer because your time is your own.

Taking sides cannot bring peace and balance.

If you want democracy, you have got to be prepared to accept the responsibilities of democracy. The people have to take part. They have to understand that they have the power to move things, and they must really commit themselves to change if they want it.