Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader, promised thousands of Burmese migrants she would try her hardest to bring them home as she kicked off her first visits out of the country in 24 years on Wednesday.
Suu Kyi, who was kept under house arrest by the military regime for decades, is visiting Thailand and intends to go to the World Economic Forum in the country and also visit the prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra on her first visit out of Burma for over two decades.
Her first duty upon entering the country, though, was to address a rally of hundreds of Burmese immigrants to Thaliand.
The Burmese politician arrives to speak to migrant workers on her first visit abroad in over two decades
As she arrived to speak to the adoring crowd, supporters were waving flags, banners and pictures of Suu Kyi.
The Burmese politician brushed off excitement over her visit but couldn't help but smile as she was greeted by cheers of 'Mother Suu' and handed flowers at the industrial zone outside Bangkok.
"I've said this time and again - I don't want to make promises. It's not good if you cannot keep your promises after you've made them, But I can make you one promise - I will try my very best," Suu Kyi is reported to have told the crowd.
Suu Kyi told the workers that she would work with the government to bring home the migrants, many of whom left due to a lack of jobs in Burma but can not afford to come home.
Aung San Suu Kyi addresses a crowd of Burmese migrants in Thailand
The workers comprise a large portion of the country's low-cost labour workforce, building houses, working in factories and in the fishing industry.
After attending the World Economic Forum, Suu Kyi will head to Europe, visiting Norway to finally receive her Nobel Prize, which she was awarded in 1991, and to the UK, where she lived for years with her husband, pick up an honourary doctorate from her former university, Oxford, and address both houses of Parliament.