Myanmar's Suu Kyi gets hero's welcome in Thailand

Reuters: Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi received a rapturous reception in Thailand on Wednesday from crowds of cheering compatriots who flocked to celebrate her first trip outside Myanmar in nearly a quarter of a century.

More than 1,000 Myanmar migrants lined the streets waving flags and holding aloft pictures of Suu Kyi as she arrived to give a speech from the balcony of a dilapidated building in an industrial zone on the fringes of the Thai capital, Bangkok.

Suu Kyi, who will visit refugees from Myanmar in border camps later on her four-day visit, had refused to leave her country, also known as Burma, for fear of being blocked from returning by the former military junta whose rule she challenged.

Dressed in a floral blouse and red traditional longhi, or sarong, Suu Kyi waved and smiled as the crowd chanting "Mother Suu" jostled for a glimpse of her.

Labour activists estimate there are at least two million Myanmar migrants in Thailand, many sending home part of their wages to help families in a country where a third of the 60 million people live below the poverty line.

Suu Kyi said she would work to improve the rights and working conditions of Myanmar migrants.

"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 told the crowd, speaking in Burmese.



"I wish the migrant workers from Burma good health and wealth, that they be free from danger and can come back home as soon as possible.



Suu Kyi meeting fellow citizens in another country would have been unimaginable 18 months ago, when she was released from house arrest days after an election seen as rigged to favour an army-backed party to entrench the military's grip on power behind a facade of democracy.