Myanmar's Suu Kyi set for landmark Thai trip
Opposition leader makes first trip outside Myanmar in 24 years to give speech at Bangkok economic forum.
Aung San Suu Kyi spent 15 years in detention during Myanmar's fight for democracy [Reuters]
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning opposition figure, will venture outside Myanmar for the first time in 24 years.
Her trip on Tuesday is seen as a newfound display of confidence in the liberalisation taking shape in her country after five decades of military rule.
Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years in detention during Myanmar's fight against dictatorship, will give a speech this
week at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok.
Until now, Suu Kyi has refused to leave Myanmar during brief periods of freedom from her years of detention, fearing the generals she was challenging would not allow her back into the country.
Her decision to leave the country comes after a year of dramatic change unthinkable in March 2011, when junta leader Than Shwe made way for a government stacked with his proteges following elections seen as rigged to favour an army-backed party and held while Suu Kyi remained under house arrest.
But in the 18 months since the election which the army-backed party won, the changes have been sweeping.
Suu Kyi has since been released and is now a parliamentarian having been convinced by reformist President Thein Sein, a former junta heavyweight, to contest a by-election and take part in a political system devised and dominated by retired and serving soldiers.
Hundreds of political prisoners have been freed, protests legalised, media censorship eased and dialogue with ethnic
minority rebels is moving forward, as is economic liberalisation.
The reforms have convinced Suu Kyi to support the suspension of Western sanctions, which had crippled the economy of Myanmar, after staunchly advocating embargoes to squeeze the generals.
Bangkok forum
Thein Sein was also due to give a speech at the same forum in Bangkok, but has since cancelled his visit, according to
Myanmar government sources, who requested anonymity.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of the leader of Myanmar's campaign for independence from British rule, spent years away from home, including many in Britain after marrying a British academic, Michael Aris.
She returned to her homeland in 1988 to take care of her dying mother and got caught up in a student-led democracy
uprising that swept the country that year and which the military eventually crushed.
Suu Kyi was first detained in 1989. From the on, she refused to leave, even after her husband was diagnosed with cancer. Aris died in 1999.
She is also due next month to visit Switzerland, Norway and Britain.
She will give an address in Geneva to an international labour conference on June 14 and will spend a week in Britain
from June 18, during which she will give a speech to both houses of parliament.
Aung San Suu Kyi spent 15 years in detention during Myanmar's fight for democracy [Reuters]
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning opposition figure, will venture outside Myanmar for the first time in 24 years.
Her trip on Tuesday is seen as a newfound display of confidence in the liberalisation taking shape in her country after five decades of military rule.
Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years in detention during Myanmar's fight against dictatorship, will give a speech this
week at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok.
Until now, Suu Kyi has refused to leave Myanmar during brief periods of freedom from her years of detention, fearing the generals she was challenging would not allow her back into the country.
Her decision to leave the country comes after a year of dramatic change unthinkable in March 2011, when junta leader Than Shwe made way for a government stacked with his proteges following elections seen as rigged to favour an army-backed party and held while Suu Kyi remained under house arrest.
But in the 18 months since the election which the army-backed party won, the changes have been sweeping.
Suu Kyi has since been released and is now a parliamentarian having been convinced by reformist President Thein Sein, a former junta heavyweight, to contest a by-election and take part in a political system devised and dominated by retired and serving soldiers.
Hundreds of political prisoners have been freed, protests legalised, media censorship eased and dialogue with ethnic
minority rebels is moving forward, as is economic liberalisation.
The reforms have convinced Suu Kyi to support the suspension of Western sanctions, which had crippled the economy of Myanmar, after staunchly advocating embargoes to squeeze the generals.
Bangkok forum
Thein Sein was also due to give a speech at the same forum in Bangkok, but has since cancelled his visit, according to
Myanmar government sources, who requested anonymity.
Suu Kyi, the daughter of the leader of Myanmar's campaign for independence from British rule, spent years away from home, including many in Britain after marrying a British academic, Michael Aris.
She returned to her homeland in 1988 to take care of her dying mother and got caught up in a student-led democracy
uprising that swept the country that year and which the military eventually crushed.
Suu Kyi was first detained in 1989. From the on, she refused to leave, even after her husband was diagnosed with cancer. Aris died in 1999.
She is also due next month to visit Switzerland, Norway and Britain.
She will give an address in Geneva to an international labour conference on June 14 and will spend a week in Britain
from June 18, during which she will give a speech to both houses of parliament.
