Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Britain for the first time in 24 years, and thanked the world for supporting her cause to bring democracy to her country.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, spoke at Oxford University, which gave her an honorary civil law doctorate 19 years ago, which she could not receive because she was put in prison or under house arrest in Burma until 2010.
“During the most difficult years, I was upheld by memories of Oxford. These were among the most important inner resources that helped me to cope with all the challenges I had to face,” Suu Kyi said on Wednesday, according to a transcript from the university.
She spoke on Burma’s recent opening up to the rest of the world after the country’s ruling military junta ceded power to a civilian government last year. Numerous political prisoners were released and the government allowed the opposition—such as Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy—to run in elections.
But she said the rest of the world is “expecting too much from Burma at this moment,” because the once-isolated country that was ruled for 49 years by a military junta “is at the beginning of a road” toward democracy and offering greater freedoms to its people.
“It is a road that we will have to carve out for ourselves ... inch by difficult inch ... we will need your help and the help of others all around the world to make sure that it leads to where we want our country to go,” Suu Kyi said.
Recent moves toward reform drew praise from the U.S. and other Western countries, which lifted some sanctions on the country.
However, there are still serious issues that need to be dealt with, including ethnic and sectarian strife in several parts of the country—most notably, clashes between Muslims and Buddhists in southwestern Rakhine state that have displaced an estimated 90,000 people and left dozens dead.
Suu Kyi urged responsible investment in Burma, saying to members of Oxford, “Please help us to make sure that all investments in Burma ... are democracy-friendly and human rights-friendly. That these investments will help to promote in our country the kind of values for which you stand—the kind of values that you taught me.”
Suu Kyi is touring Europe and has stops in the U.K., Switzerland, France, Norway, and Ireland.
