Burma’s Suu Kyi warns investors of ‘optimism’

Speaking during her first trip outside her country in 24 years, the leader of the fight against dictatorship in Myanmar warned against "reckless optimism" about its rapid reforms, which could be easily undone if not supported by the military.

Suu Kyi, 66, said the country, also known as Burma, faced a crisis due high unemployment and urged foreign companies to provide jobs and training. Their investments should not fuel corruption or line the pockets only of the business elite.

Millions of people in Myanmar have been forced abroad, many to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, because of a lack of jobs.

Western sanctions have prevented foreign companies from investing in the country of 60 million people, but most restrictions have been suspended in recent months in response to reforms by the quasi-civilian government that took office just over a year ago.

The Oxford-educated daughter of Myanmar's slain independence leader, Aung San, Suu Kyi has received an ecstatic welcome in Thailand during a visit that would have been unimaginable 18 months ago, when she was under house arrest under a military junta.

She spent a total of 15 years in detention before her release in late 2010 and her venture abroad is one of the clearest signs yet of her confidence in the changes taking place under President Thein Sein, a former general in the junta.

For years she refused to leave, fearing the generals she was challenging would not let her back.

Suu Kyi said she felt Thein Sein was committed to improving the country but the extent to which his reforms were irreversible depended on the military, by far Myanmar's most powerful institution.