A democracy's rite of passage: confronting the ghosts of its past

Waning international pressure on the military led State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) of Burma to recognise the results of the 1990 election or to expedite transition to democracy by holding fresh elections - if Burma ever returns to a form of democratic rule, the new government would be faced with the issue of how to deal with the human rights abuses committed under the SPDC - whether to prosecute those involved in mass human rights abuses or whether to grant amnesty - no one 'right' approach and the way a nascent democracy deals with its past will depend on many factors.