Suu Kyi plans democracy study tour of eastern Europe
Play
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will visit Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic on a study tour of the former communist states, sources said yesterday.
Suu Kyi, 68, is scheduled to meet the presidents of the three eastern European countries on her tour which kicks off next week, said Win Myint, an aide to the Nobel laureate.
“Daw [Madame] Aung San Suu Kyi will be studying the democratic systems of three EU countries,” he said.
Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic were all part of the Soviet communist bloc until it fell apart in the late 1980s, paving the way for them to become democracies.
Myanmar was under a socialist system between 1962 to 1988 and thereafter ruled by a junta until 2010 when a general election brought the current reform-minded government to power.
Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest during junta rule, is the leader of the National League for Democracy opposition party, which is deemed the likely victor of Myanmar’s next scheduled election in 2015.
Suu Kyi will begin her tour in Warsaw on September 12, before heading on to Budapest and then Prague.
