Aung San Suu Kyi meets Myanmar exiles in Thailand

Thursday 31 May 2012    

Hordes of Myanmar migrant workers greet their country's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Thailand, as she addresses them in her first trip outside the country in 24 years.Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was greeted by around 2,000 Myanmar nationals in Samut Sakhon province, 31 miles (50km) southwest of the Thai capital Bangkok.

She gave a short speech on the third-floor balcony of the Migrant Workers' Rights Network in the area called "Muang Burma Lek," which translates to "Little Burmatown." 

She urged the crowd to familiarize themselves with the law and to know their rights as workers. 

"You should also be aware of your own responsibilities which is to try and understand the law, so that when they are violated, you can make a complaint. You also need to know who to complain to. 

"During the campaigning in Myanmar before the by-elections, I've said this time and again - I don't want to make promises. It's not good if you cannot keep your promises after you've made them. But I can make you one promise - I will try my very best," Suu Kyi said.

Suu Kyi had arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday night, the first time she has ventured outside Myanmar in 24 years, heralding another sign of the liberalisation gathering pace in Myanmar after five decades of military rule. 

The 66-year-old nobel laureate is due to give a speech at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Bangkok on Friday. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/burmamyanmar/9299493/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-meets-Myanmar-exiles-in-Thailand.html