Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has embarked on her first foreign trip in 24 years with a visit to Thailand. The trip follows a series of reforms initiated by Myanmar’s current president Thein Sein, culminating in April by-elections that saw Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy Party winning over 90 percent of the vote. Before flying out of Rangoon she told reporters that the trip was a normal “part of my job. I’m going to stay for four or five days… I will visit one refugee camp.”
Suu Kyi has not been on a foreign trip since 1988. Suu Kyi, than a resident of the UK flew home to Burma to attend to her ailing mother. She ended up playing a lead role in demonstrations against military rule that were violently put down by the junta. Placed under house arrest, Suu Kyi would stay in the country waging a non-violent campaign for democracy and human rights.
Suu Kyi will spend several days in Thailand, touring the country and addressing a meeting of the World Economic Forum in East Asia. She will also take time in the Thai capital Bangkok to meet with migrant workers from Myanmar whose treatment has caused tension between the two countries. She will speak to migrants and get a first hand look at some of their conditions. She will than return to Myanmar before flying to Europe.
In Europe, she will share a stage in Dublin with U2’s Bono, a long time supporter of her human rights advocacy. In the UK she will address both houses of Parliament and also has plans to visit Paris.
Observers say that the trip indicates Suu Kyi’s ongoing confidence in the reform process. The veteran democracy leader had not previously taken advantage of opportunities to travel outside of the country, fearing that the military regime would not allow her back into the country after a foreign trip.
