BY TOM COYNE

Associated Press

FORT WAYNE, Ind.

The 49-year-old political refugee would like to return to his homeland one day, but he doesn't believe it will happen, even after hearing Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi say she would work to make sure people like him could come back.

Myint was among thousands of elated supporters who greeted Suu Kyi with cheers, tears and a standing ovation Tuesday as she took to the stage at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Ind., the fourth stop on her 17-day U.S. tour.

Like Suu Kyi, Myint was imprisoned in 1989. But Myint, who spent 15 years as a political prisoner, said he doesn't believe Suu Kyi will be able to help him go back to Myanmar. That's because he says he's too well-known for working against the junta, having been featured in an HBO documentary called "Burma Soldier."

"She cannot do anything. She is not in the power," he said.

Sixty-seven-year-old Suu Kyi, who was recently elected to parliament after spending 15 years under house arrest for opposing Myanmar's military rulers, voiced optimism for democracy in her Southeast Asian home.

"The important thing is to learn how to resolve problems. How to face them and how to find the right answers through discussion and debate," the Nobel Laureate told the more than 5,000 people who gathered to hear her speak. Fort Wayne is home to one of the largest Burmese communities in the United States.

Myint said he lost his arm and leg in a battle with communist insurgents while serving in the Burma army. After he left the army, he switched sides, meeting with resistance groups and working against the military rulers.

"We were looking together to find a way to end the civil war," he said.

Suu Kyi rose to prominence during a failed pro-democracy uprising to protest Burma's military-backed regime in 1988. Thousands of the 1988 protesters were killed and tens of thousands more--including Oxford-educated Suu Kyi--spent years as political prisoners. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party was subsequently stymied by the junta's iron grip on the country.

But Suu Kyi voiced cautious hope Tuesday.

"The differences and problems we have amongst ourselves, I think we can join hands and reconcile and move forward and solve any problems," she said. Suu Kyi delivered most of her speech--and answered most questions--in Burmese, with an English translation by video.