BANGKOK (AP) — Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi basked in a long-overdue standing ovation at her first speech before an international audience today, but quickly shifted the focus from herself to Myanmar’s many needs — and how the world can help.
Despite recently emerging from 24 years of isolation, the former political prisoner appeared completely at ease speaking to the World Economic Forum in Bangkok where she urged the international community to exercise “healthy skepticism” toward Myanmar’s much-touted reform process.
It is not the first time that Suu Kyi has called for caution in the world’s approach to Myanmar — but it is the first time she has uttered the sentiment on foreign soil since becoming her country’s democracy crusader in 1988. The speech was broadcast live across several time zones.
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