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.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=98486