"By late September, the streets of Burmese towns and cities had swelled with popular mass demonstrations expressing the Burmese people?s desire for democracy and basic human rights. These peaceful demonstrations were a legitimate expression of the Burmese people?s frustrations with the lack of political and civil freedoms in their nation and increasing hardships that ordinary Burmese people face in their daily lives. Specifically, the sudden and unannounced gas price hike had compounded the financial miseries of the Burmese population that already suffers with one of lowest economic standards of living in the developing world. The military junta?s decision to unilaterally raise gas prices not only left millions unable even to simply travel to their jobs but also caused the costs of nearly all goods to suddenly soar. As the Foreign Minister of Malaysia stated before the United Nations, these demonstrations were a ?justified” response to decades of abuse at the hands of an unelected military dictatorship..."