Myanmar beauty queen lands in Canada

Myanmar's exiled beauty queen Han Lay, who had spoken out against military rule in her country and became stranded at Suvarnabhumi airport, arrive in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, on Wednesday. (Reuters photo)
Myanmar's exiled beauty queen Han Lay, who had spoken out against military rule in her country and became stranded at Suvarnabhumi airport, arrive in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, on Wednesday. (Reuters photo)

A Myanmar beauty queen, who had spoken out against military rule in her country and became stranded at Suvarnabhumi airport, landed in Toronto on Wednesday.

Han Lay captured global attention last year with her pageant speech on the army's deadly suppression of anti-junta protests.

After spending the past year in Thailand, she was denied re-entry into the country after a brief exit and spent days in Suvarnabhumi airport, pleading on social media not to be sent back home.

"Since I landed here, I feel safe and my worries have gone away," she told Reuters by phone from Toronto's international airport. "I am always a supporter for Myanmar democracy; I will always support it as much as I can."

The 23-year-old, whose real name is Thaw Nandar Aung, said she was going to live in Prince Edward Island, a province off Canada's Atlantic coast, with the government's assistance but did not say how long she would be there or what her status in Canada was.

Thai immigration officials denied her entry last week following a brief visit to Vietnam, saying she was using invalid travel documents.

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Vocabulary

  • attention: interest, especially interest that the public has in a person, event, situation etc - ความสนใจ
  • capture: to catch someone or something; to take someone as a prisoner - จับ, จับกุม
  • democracy (noun): a system of government in which all the people of a country can vote to elect their representatives - การปกครองแบบประชาธิปไตย
  • invalid: not able to be used legally - เป็นโมฆะ
  • pageant: a competition to choose the most beautiful from a group of women - ประกวดนางงาม
  • plead: to ask for something in an emotional way - ขอร้อง, วิงวอน
  • status: official or legal position - สถานภาพ
  • stranded: left somewhere with no way of going anywhere else - ปล่อยเกาะ ถูกทิ้งไว้
  • suppression: stopping opposition or protests using force or strict laws; crackdown - การใช้กำลังเข้าปราบปรามของเจ้าหน้าที่
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