(Yangon, MMR) - Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will travel outside Yangon next week for the first time since her release, but politics will not be on the agenda, a party source said Friday.
Suu Kyi will fly to the ancient city of Bagan with her son Kim Aris Monday for a private visit, said a senior member of her National League for Democracy (NLD) who did not want to be named because the trip is not being made public.
"It will be her first personal trip to accompany her son," the person said, adding that the pair would stay about five days. "We haven't made a plan yet for her political tour."
The Nobel Peace Prize winner's earlier plan to launch a political tour had prompted a demand from the regime for her party to stay out of politics, and a warning that "chaos and riots" could ensue if she went ahead.
Official media said Wednesday the home affairs ministry had written to Suu Kyi, who spent most of the past two decades locked up at the hands of the junta, to state that her party's activities had broken the law.
It is the first time since she was released last year that the authorities have explicitly warned her to stay out of politics.
A political tour would be a test of both the opposition leader's popularity following an election that left her sidelined from politics, and of her ability to travel around the country unhindered by the authorities.
Security is a major concern as Suu Kyi's convoy was attacked in 2003 during a previous political trip, in an ambush apparently organised by a regime frightened by her popularity.
Britain expressed strong concern Thursday at the "menacing" attitude of the Myanmar authorities towards the pro-democracy champion.
"Aung San Suu Kyi should be able to travel freely and without risk to her personal security. The international community will be watching developments closely," said Foreign Secretary William Hague.
Suu Kyi's party won a landslide election victory in 1990 that was never recognised by the junta.
The NLD was disbanded by the military rulers last year because it boycotted the country's first election in 20 years, held in November, saying the rules were unfair.
The junta's political proxies claimed an overwhelming victory in the poll, which was marred by widespread complaints of cheating and intimidation.
It is the second time that Suu Kyi has seen her youngest son since her release. She was reunited with the 33-year-old British national in November, after a decade of separation.
