Time alone not to heal country wounds: Suu Kyi

Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - London—Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi started a week-long visit to Britain on Tuesday, telling hundreds of students and academics that time alone will not heal the wounds of her country. Her first public event in the U.K. was a debate at the London School of Economics on how Myanmar can move to the rule of law, a reminder of the tough road ahead for the leader of the Southeast Asian country’s reform movement.

Suu Kyi told the audience that “time will not heal. There has to be acknowledgment” of the wrongs of the past. “The progress that we hope to make with regard to democratization and reform,” she said, “depends so much on an understanding of the importance of the rule of law.”

Suu Kyi, who is on her first overseas trip since 1988, received a standing ovation as she took the stage during the panel discussion. Most in the crowd had come to hear her speak.—AP