Aung San Suu Kyi pledges to change Burma politics from within

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph on the eve of a party conference to decide on its future in Burmese politics, Ms Suu Kyi change had already started in Burma and it was time for all sides to play a role.

"I am not entirely sure of the reasons why people think it is not yet the time to re-register," she said. "On the whole the majority of the people want the remit to do so."

The National League for Democracy was disbanded last year after it refused to stand in national elections under a system that guaranteed the military a majority in parliament.

But after recent legal changes granting new freedoms in politics, media and trade union rights, the NLD will reconsider its stance on Friday Burma is due to hold by-elections for 48 seats vacated by MPs appointed as ministers.

The opposition leader, who was released last year and has spent 15 of the last 20 years under regime detention, hinted the party would contest those polls.

"There is some controversy about the matter of the by-elections but in any case if you register as a political party you would be obliged to stand in at least three elections.

"Democracy accepts opposition and we have to be able to work out our differences." Mrs Suu Kyi said she regarded President Thein Sein, the former general who was elected in March following last year's flawed election as a "good listener" who was capable of orchestrating national reconciliation.

"I don't think you can take it for granted that those in authority think in exactly the same way as those who used to be in those positions," she said.

"The people [today] have been able to come out to meet me and see me. This is change."

Hundreds of people lined the roads of a southern Rangoon township this morning for a glimpse of the woman who has been a symbol of Burmese freedom since the military overturned her party's victory in the 1990 elections.

On her third formal visit to party activists since she was released from house arrest last year, Mrs Suu Kyi said she expected greater foreign aid for ordinary Burmese.

"There is a need to provide help to alleviate poverty in Burma and I don't think that should be conditional on what the government may or may not do," she said.

"I don't think we should hold the people's welfare hostage to political developments."

Burma's generals dragged the country into penury and isolation in almost five decades of military rule. Successive peaceful revolutions have been bloodily crushed and thousands have been tortured during detention in military justice.

However Ms Suu Kyi drew a distinction between seeking progress and justice for past repression.

"I never think of these things, I think of how we can co-operate together to make the future better," she said. "I don't want to be a prisoner of the past, which is not to say I don't think of accountability and making amends.