"... It doesn?t mean that we don?t recognize the very substantial flaws inherent in the process so far. They include the flawed constitution that the military adopted in 2008 to entrench its supremacy in politics by reserving 25 percent of seats in parliament, by allowing the generals to appoint the three most important cabinet ministers, by authorizing the armed forces to take power in case of state emergency, and by limiting meaningful autonomy for ethnic minorities. Meanwhile we are still contending with the effects of simmering civil war and ethnic conflict, rising nationalism and communal violence, deepening poverty and a widening gap between rich and poor. The military has allowed unprecedented popular participation in Burmese politics, but they still control real political and economic power by means of the 2008 constitution and highly skewed wealth distribution. Access to power has been dramatic ally broadened, but the exercise of power remains in the same hands: the military?s. For this reason, all of us who attended the reunion felt acutely that our mission still has not been accomplished. There is one 8-8-88 memory that has never let go of me. When we were marching during the 1988 democracy movement, the people had nothing to eat, but they made rice bags for us so that we could eat and keep marching. When we collected the rice bags, we always promised them: "You will get democracy one day." So far, we haven?t kept our promise..."