"These fears must not be ridiculed but understood and addressed. In the final analysis it will be counterproductive to impose democracy on people who have yet to fully understand how it will sit against everything they believe in."

“It's the way we are - our people show their respect to their leaders by keeping quiet. It is considered rude to speak your mind.”

“The creation of a legal eligibility allowing the grant of an amnesty for treason is abhorrent and unacceptable. The Bill was supposed to be a search for the truth behind the tragedy of 2000, but the Bill never once mentions the word "truth.”

“If we continue to pardon or excuse the wrongdoers who commit acts of criminality in unsettling an elected government, we don't have any guarantee, do we, that this kind of exercise won't be repeated in the future.”

“Reconciliation and forgiveness are matters of the heart. They cannot be forced on the people.”

“Democracy, the rule of law and human rights march hand in hand. These concepts are not well understood by a good portion of the population.”

“If the law is bad and unpopular, it is for the people through the ballot box, to show their displeasure. But in a democracy, it is not the business of the military, however well-intentioned, to interfere with the law-making process.”