Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi received a rapturous reception in Thailand today from crowds of cheering compatriots who flocked to celebrate her first trip outside Burma in nearly a quarter of a century.
More than 1,000 Burma migrants lined the streets waving flags and holding aloft pictures of Ms 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.
Ms Suu Kyi, who will visit refugees from Burma in border camps later on her four-day visit, had refused to leave her country 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, Ms 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 Burmese 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.
Ms Suu Kyi said she would work to improve the rights and working conditions of 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," Ms 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."
Ms 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.
But the quasi-civilian government which emerged from the vote, although approved by a parliament packed with retired and serving military, has surpassed expectations in introducing a series of reforms to try to rid the country of its pariah status after decades of isolation and decay.
"This is the first time in my life that I got to see her, I've been waiting 25 years for this moment," said one migrant worker."I want to ask Mother Suu to help the country to progress and develop. I believe she can bring that change. I want the country to develop faster. I just want to go home."
Such comments reflect the weight of expectation on the shoulders of the 66-year-old Suu Kyi, who has long been seen as Burma's sole hope for democracy due to her steely defiance
during years of dictatorship.
She became a member of parliament this month following her triumph in a parliamentary by-election that reformist president and former junta general Thein Sein had convinced her to take part in after winning her trust.
Ms Suu Kyi made a low-key arrival in Bangkok late last night. She is due to attend a World Economic Forum on East Asia and will address the conference on Friday.
Today, she urged the workers to learn their rights to avoid exploitation. She said she hoped economic conditions would improve in Burma so they could eventually return.
Economic sanctions and gross mismanagement by military juntas have squeezed the economy, but the recent suspension of many of the US and European embargoes once backed by Ms Suu Kyi is expected to bring a deluge of investment in the resource-rich and strategically located country.
Ms Suu Kyi is due to visit Ireland, Switzerland, Norway and Britain next month.
Reuters