Suu Kyi meets Thai DPM

BANGKOK, May 31 (TNA) - Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the Myanmar opposition and the National League for Democracy Party (NLD), met Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubumrung at Bangkok's Government House on Thursday to mainly discuss problems of Myanmar workers in Thailand. After the one-hour meeting, Police Captain Chalerm, who oversees national security, told journalists that Suu Kyi expressed her concerns over conditions of a number of Myanmar workers, both legal and illegal ones, in Thailand and he confirmed to her that the Thai government has taken good care of the Myanmar workers and is speeding up nationality verification for them so that they will then become legal workers and will, thus, enjoy a daily minimum wage of 300 baht, free emergency medical services and 30-baht medical services in Thailand as what have enjoyed by Thai workers. Police Captain Chalerm insisted that the Thai government has taken good and humanitarian care of Myanmar refugees and is ready to send the refugees back to Myanmar when the situation in their homeland becomes safe. The Thai deputy prime minister also said he does not think that his meeting with Suu Kyi will affect relations with the Myanmar government, as only labor issues were raised during their Thursday's discussions. Suu Kyi, meanwhile, inquired about the planned registration of 1.2 million foreign workers in Thailand, saying that she plans to bring Myanmar workers back home when the situation in Myanmar improves if the Myanmar migrant workers have not yet been legally registered then. At the end of their meeting, the Thai deputy premier extended his wish for Suu Kyi, Myanmar's pro-democracy icon, to win the next election in the neighbouring country in 2016; while Suu Kyi, who is also a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said if she ran in an election in Thailand, she should receive votes from Thai women. (TNA)