Suu Kyi urges caution against over-optimism

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged India not to be over-optimistic about political changes in her homeland, as she began her first visit to New Delhi for a quarter of a century yesterday.
Suu Kyi, who was a student in the city where her mother served as an ambassador, spoke in a interview to The Hindu of her sadness at the Indian government's ties with Myanmar's former junta.
Her invitation to India is an attempt by its government to rebuild the relationship with Suu Kyi. New Delhi was once one of her staunchest supporters, but changed tack and sought engagement with the junta in the mid-1990s.
Suu Kyi said India should not get carried away by recent developments in Myanmar.
" I think too much optimism doesn't help because then you ignore what is going wrong."
Her official programme begins today when she will meet Manmohan Singh and deliver the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru memorial lecture. On Friday she will visit the Lady Shri Ram college in New Delhi, from which she graduated with a degree in politics.
Suu Kyi last visited India in 1987 when she travelled to Simla to join her husband Michael Aris, who was pursuing Himalayan studies at an institute in the picturesque hill station.