Aung San Suu Kyi travels for first time since release

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi visited an ancient temple city in central Myanmar with her son Monday, in a tentative first test of her ability to travel following her release by the junta. The 66-year-old Nobel laureate, whose previously announced plan for a political tour prompted stern warnings from the regime, was greeted at Bagan airport by crowds of journalists and what appeared to be plain-clothes police.

It is Suu Kyi's first venture outside the main city of Yangon since being freed from seven years of house arrest last November, but politics are not expected to be on the agenda. Though she is allowed to travel where she wants in Myanmar, the government last month warned of "chaos and riots" if she seeks to rally support and accused her of trying to exploit the public.

Supporters 'stay away'

Her now-defunct political party, the National League for Democracy, urged her followers to stay away, fearing a repeat of a bloody attack on her motorcade in 2003, in which 70 of her supporters were killed. The trip by Suu Kyi and her British-born son, Kim Aris, was described as a pilgrimage by the NLD and was her first trip outside the former capital Yangon since the 2003 ambush. She arrived in Bagan, 690 km (430 miles) north of Yangon, flanked by about a dozen NLD security guards and met NLD officials before checking into a hotel.

The NLD would not give details of Suu Kyi's visit and said she wanted to keep a low profile. Since her release from a seven-year stint of house arrest on Nov. 13, the daughter of slain independence hero Aung San has been conciliatory in her comments about the country's rulers and has urged dialogue. The charismatic figurehead of Myanmar's fight against five decades of dictatorships has not been troubled by the new civilian government, which is dominated by members of the previous military regime that has long sought to undermine her.

AFP, Reuters