MAHACHAI,
Thailand: Democracy icon Aung San Suu
Kyi on Wednesday told an ecstatic crowd of Myanmar migrants in Thailand she
would do all she could to help them, on the first stop of her first trip abroad
in 24 years.
"I
can give you one promise -- I will try my best for you," Suu Kyi told a
crowd of hundreds who packed a narrow street in Samut Sakhon province south of
Bangkok to see the opposition leader, who had not left her homeland since 1988.
Suu Kyi
praised the strong "spirit" of workers from Myanmar, also known as
Burma, "in spite of the many troubles they have been through" in
comments to journalists.
"All
of them say one thing -- they want to go back to Burma as soon as possible.
That of course is part of our responsibility," she said, adding that her
visit to Mahachai was like being "back in Yangon".
Cheering
Myanmar migrants held up banners with Suu Kyi's picture and signs in Burmese
and English that read "Free Burma" and "We want to go
home".
"I
am very happy and I want to cry. I feel that we will get democracy in
Myanmar," said Phyu, who has been in Thailand for six years.
Suu
Kyi's foray beyond Myanmar's borders is a significant show of confidence in
dramatic changes that have swept her homeland since a near 50-year military
government was replaced with a quasi-civilian regime last year.
The
former political prisoner, who won a seat in parliament in historic April
by-elections, is expected to meet Thailand's prime minister and attend the
World Economic Forum on East Asia during several days in the country.
Her
decision to begin the trip by meeting some of the hundreds of thousands of
Myanmar migrants who work in low paid jobs in Thai homes, factories and fishing
boats, shines a spotlight on a group that has long been marginalised and prone
to exploitation.
Thailand's
workforce is heavily reliant on low-cost foreign workers, both legal and
trafficked, with Myanmar nationals accounting for around 80 percent of the two
million registered migrants in the kingdom. There may be a further one million
undocumented foreign workers.
"Most
of the workers here want to go back home, but we can't afford that. There are
no jobs back there and it's difficult to eat, difficult to live," said
Aung Htun, 28, a rice mill worker.
Suu Kyi
met several migrant workers as part of her visit, hearing stories that conveyed
a range of experiences and promised to discuss the issues with the Thai
authorities.
Pavin
Chachavalpongpun, of the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at Japan's Kyoto
University, said the veteran activist was looking to "reconnect her lost
connection with those who live outside the country".
"There
are a lot of Burmese exiles in Thailand, Burmese dissidents and immigrant
workers, that is why she chose to go there," he said.
Suu
Kyi's ventures overseas, which also include a European tour in June, are seen
as the completion of her transformation from prisoner to global politician.
The
66-year-old, who spent 15 of the past 22 years under house arrest, refused to
travel abroad in the past even when the former military government denied her
dying husband a visa to visit her, because of fears she would never be allowed
to return.
Suu Kyi
also said she would meet refugees in northern Thailand, where roughly 100,000
people live in camps after being displaced by ethnic conflict in Myanmar's
eastern border areas.
She is
scheduled to speak at an open discussion with World Economic Forum founder
Klaus Schwab and appear on Friday at a session on the role of Asian women.
Suu
Kyi's European travel plans include an address to an International Labour
Organization conference in Geneva on June 14.
After
that she will make a speech in Oslo on June 16 to finally accept the Nobel
Peace Prize she was awarded in 1991 for her peaceful struggle for democracy.
She
also intends to travel to Britain, where she lived for years with her family,
and will address parliament in London on June 21.
Myanmar
President Thein Sein, who is credited with a string of reforms that have
prompted the international community to ease sanctions, has postponed an
official visit to Thailand which would have clashed with Suu Kyi's trip.
He will
now travel to the country on June 4 and 5, according to the Thai foreign
ministry.
-
AFP/al
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