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As part of President Obama’s week-long trip to East Asia, he has stopped by the state formerly known as Burma. Two years ago, during his last visit, Obama strengthened ties between the two nations, pledging support for a transition to democracy.

Myanmar, as it’s now officially known, was ruled by a military junta for decades. Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, was under house arrest. After decades of condemnation by human rights groups, and a budding civilian-led movement for democracy, Myanmar’s military regime softened its position and accepted a transfer to a civilian government, which is headed by President Thein Sein.

But now, two years later, the project of democratizing the nation has been somewhat derailed. In particular, mistreatment of Burma’s minorities seem to have only escalated. More than 100,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority have fled their homes in the Western part of the primarily Buddhist country. And in the Northern part of the country, the Christian Kachin minority has reported systemic killings, rape, torture, and indentured servitude at the hands of the Army.

Even Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now free and politically active, denounced the slow pace of reforms, pointing in particular to what she called an “overly optimistic” assessment by the US of Myanmar’s transition.

GUEST: Edith Mirante, the director of Project Maje, a group that distributes information about Burma, and author of a new book, “The Wind in the Bamboo: A Journey in Search of Asia’s ‘Negrito’ Indigenous Peoples.”