NAYPYIDAW (AFP) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday called for laws to protect the rights of the strife-torn nation's myriad ethnic minorities in her maiden speech to the parliament. She won a seat in April by-elections, marking a dramatic transformation from a longtime political prisoner to a key figure in the budding reform process. The veteran activist used her first short address to lawmakers to support a motion by a ruling-party MP on upholding ethnic minority rights. "To become a truly democratic union with a spirit of the union, equal rights and mutual respect, I urge all members of parliament to discuss the enactment of the laws needed to protect equal rights of ethnicities," she said.