Suu Kyi brings campaign to new capital

Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi campaigned for her party for the April 1 by-elections in Naypyitaw, the new capital built by the military junta. Suu Kyi, until last year held under house arrest for years by the junta, brought her campaign message of education to the new capital, the Irrawaddy magazine reported. Earlier she had been speaking to thousands of supporters of her party, the National League for Democracy, which has decided to contest in all 48 parliamentary seats in the April 1 polls, as the country's new military-back civilian regime introduces new reforms. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate said the current education budget is too small and the system needs many changes to upgrade the nation's standard of schools, Irrawaddy reported. Suu Kyi spent Monday night in Naypyitaw before proceeding on her campaign trail. Earlier, she campaigned in Mandalay, the country's second largest city. At the new capital, only a few hundred supporters greeted her apparently because of the presence of a large military personnel and civil servants, the Irrawaddy reported. The country's old capital was Rangoon. Suu Kyi was denied access to some of the government buildings, the report said. On Sunday in Mandalay, the report said up to 100,000 supporters had greeted her at a rally. The report said the 66-yer-old leader briefly felt unwell there, blamed by her supporters on her rigorous schedule. She, however, recovered and continued campaigning at other locations, the report said. Suu Kyi was quoted as saying she believed the country's constitution can be changed if the military representatives in parliament supported her. The by-elections were called to fill the seats vacated by lawmakers after they had been appointed to Cabinet or other government posts. Myanmar, formerly called Burma, is currently led by President Thein Sein, whose government, which came to power after elections in 2010, has been praised by Western nations for its reforms. Thein Sein has said his country is on the "right track to democracy" from which there is no turning back. His government wants the United States and other Western nations to lift longstanding economic sanctions, which, he said, are holding back economic progress of his Southeast Asian nation of 54 million people.