Aung San Suu Kyi called on Britain to support Burma's fledgling democracy on Thursday in a historic address to a joint session of both Houses of Parliament.
The opposition leader, who spent 15 years under house arrest in her home country, said that with the help of established democracies, Burma could finally reform. But she warned that if the opportunity was missed, it might not arise again for a generation.
In her first visit to Britain for 24 years, the Nobel peace laureate prompted laughter as she declared that Burma would have "truly come of age" when its parliament had its own rowdy version of Prime Minister's Questions.
But she cautioned that, after 49 years of military rule, the country could only follow in Britain's footsteps with the support of the international community.
Suu Kyi, who received a standing ovation from MPs and peers, said: "I am here in part to ask for practical help, help as a friend and an equal, in support of the reforms which can bring better lives, greater opportunities, to the people of Burma who have been for so long deprived of their rights and their place in the world.
"My country today stands at the start of a journey towards, I hope, a better future. So many hills remain to be climbed, chasms to be bridged, obstacles to be breached. Our own determination can get us so far. The support of the people of Britain and of peoples around the world can get us so much further."
The pro-democracy campaigner described how she forged her political beliefs during her student days at Oxford, when she studied the prime ministers William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. She noted that in Britain it was "taken for granted" that the decision of voters was accepted, and that the governing power was won and lost in accordance with the desires of the electorate. In Burma, while the legislative process had vastly improved, it was still not as transparent as it might be, she said.
"I would like to see us learn from established examples of parliamentary democracies elsewhere so that we might deepen our own democratic standards over time," she told a packed Westminster Hall. Suu Kyi, who earlier held talks in Downing St with David Cameron, recalled that her father, the Burmese independence leader Aung San, was once photographed outside No?10 wrapped in a large British military-issue greatcoat to protect against the cold. "I must say, not having left my tropical country for 24 years, there have been odd moments this week when I have thought of that coat myself," she said.
"I was photographed in the same place where my father was photographed and it was raining. Very British."
British Prime Minister David Cameron (L), opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband (2nd L), Cherie Blair QC (3rd L), and former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (2nd R) meet with Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi after addressing both Houses of Parliament on June 21, 2012 in London, England
