. >> two years ago, buddhist mobs tore through rohingya muslim communities in western burma, attacking anyone in their path. it sparked a wave of sectarian violence that spread to other parts of the country, with little hindrance from the authorities. now tens of thousand of rohingya, are housed in primitive camps under government armed guard, while others have tried to flee oversees to malaysia. but as jason motlagh reports, the refugees are being exploited and abused by people traffickers, while aien

thank you >> two years ago, buddhist mobs tore through rohingya muslim communities in western burma, . stern burma, >>> two years ago, buddhist i tore through an area that spread to other parts of the country with little hindrance. now tennesss of thousands are hd under armed guards while others have tried to flee. as jason makma reports, they are being exploited and

really pretty easy for western companies to pull out and for western governments to put in place sanctions against -- against investing in burmah happened in -- myanmar -- which started happening in '97 and successive sanctions took place after that. so no one really was investing except for asian countries throughout the last decade. >> when did that start to change? >> right. so in 2011, the man who used to be a general resigned from the military, and took over the government. he had been the prime minister. so now he leads a nominally civilian government. he opened up the country, started talking to the democracy nobel peace prize winner, and that was huge and unexpected. after that, in 2012, western countries, the u.s. and other countries started suspending or lifting most of the more aggressive sanctions. >> so how much money are we talking about has come in there? and what u.s. companies are we talking about? >> so in 2011 myanmar had about -- just -- close to $1 billion in fdi, in foreign direct investment. in 2013 that more than doubled to $2.6 billion. >> that is everybody, china being the biggest country. >> yes. >>

have and the western countries have that china still needs development that will take years. that's a spot on point. >> let me turn to burmau have the president there, a rough transition but you don't have real pressure on some of the abuse of the minority there is. "the new york times" put it bluntly. they said, obama steered clear of burma about the riyognas facing persecution. what do you think of the way this administration is trying to walk the line and support what has been, many many account, a democratic transformation while there are these serious human rights concerns? >> i think if you look at the u.s. relationship with myanmar, it's less right now about pushing u.s. ideals and pushing the ideas of human rights and the ideas of the rights of the indigenous or religious rights, and more about ensuring that there's some room for dialogue, some room for cooperation. the main focus is on a sechltse. one of the constraints is they had big relationships with three asean countries. as u.s. was transitioning into that concept of pivot, the relationship with cambodia eased up, the relationship with laos and myanmar eased

western value. i fundamentally disagree with that. [applause] japan, taiwan, south korea, they have built thriving democracies. filipinos showed us the strength of people power. indonesians just voted in a historic election. . just came from burma this is a place that for 40 of a was under the grip military junta. one of the most closed and oppressive nations on earth. was inspired by citizens in civil society and nowiamentarians who were working to sustain a transition to a democratic future. i had a town hall meeting with young people like you, in which they were asking, what does it mean to create rule of law, and how should we die -- deal with ethnic diversity? what does a free press look like, and how does it operate? how do we make sure that journalism is responsible? debate thatedible is taking place. want young people, they the same things you do. the notion that somehow they are less interested in opportunity or less interested in avoiding arbitrary arrest or less iserested in being censored fundamentally untrue. today, people in hong kong are speaking out for their universal rights. around thea and world, america supports free and fair elections. citizens must be free to choose their own leaders. in thailand, we are u

western value. i fundamentally disagree with that. [applause] japan, taiwan, south korea, they have built thriving democracies. filipinos showed us the strength of people power. indonesians just voted in a historic election. i just came from burma. this is a place that for 40 years was under the grip of a military junta. one of the most closed and oppressive nations on earth. there i was inspired by citizens in civil society and parliamentarians who were now working to sustain a transition to a democratic future. i had a town hall meeting with young people like you, in which they were asking, what does it mean to create rule of law, and how should we deal with ethnic diversity? what does a free press look like, and how does it operate? how do we make sure that journalism is responsible? it's an incredible debate that is taking place. those young people, they want the same things you do. the notion that somehow they are less interested in opportunity or less interested in avoiding arbitrary arrest or less interested in being censored is fundamentally untrue. today, people in hong kong are speaking out for their universal rights. here in asia and around the world, america supports free and fair elections. because citizens must be