Burma: A National Convention or a Political Quagmire?

[The Junta's PM is still in a daydream, attempting to implement his seven-step road map without Aung San Suu Kyi]

by Zin Linn
Mizzima News,
May 15, 2004

A third meeting of the Central Body of Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association (MWJA) was held at the Union Hall in Kyaik-ka-san Compound in Rangoon from the 11 to 13 May. The three-day meeting included an address by Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt, urging public support for the junta's road map for democracy.

In his address, the prime minister said, "Nowadays, the government, based on national strength and force, is step by step implementing the seven-point policy program that will raise the prestige of the nation and enable it to stand tall among the nations of the world as an independent and sovereign Union."

He concluded by saying, "All the literati are to preserve the fine traditions of Myanmar literature, which has safeguarded and promoted the national interests at every turning point in the long history of Myanmar. The National Convention that will lead the Union to a stable and a certain future will be held soon and we believe that all are going to participate in it. In the broader interest of the State, I would like to urge those from the world of literature to actively participate in efforts for successful implementation of the seven-point policy program of the State."

The junta's prime minister also said he hopes all invited parties will attend the National Convention resuming on May 17, which is part one of his seven-step road map.

Burma's pro-democracy opposition party pronounced repeatedly that it is almost certain to attend the 17th May national convention and it expects the ruling military regime to accept its proposed changes to the forum...

"We have come to the conclusion that it is in the interests of the people and the nation for us to attend the national convention. But this of course is conditional to the military authorities agreeing to a set of suggestions which we put up to them this April 30," National League for Democracy (NLD) secretary and spokesman U Lwin told reporters.

However, the junta responded the NLD requests negatively and the NLD yesterday announced that it would not attend the National Convention.

Coincidentally, prior to the MWJA's meeting, two incidents involving suppression of press freedom and a resulting cover-up by military authorities have emerged from the junta's prison-quarter in a timely fashion.

The first case involves Than Win Hlaing, a writer and journalist who was secretly thrown into Tha-yet Prison. He was charged and tried in an arbitrary summary court with Publication Act 17/20, sentencing him to seven years imprisonment in June 2000. His case was aired by the Oslo based Democratic Voice of Burma on 13 May this year. He published a book in 1995 entitled "Historic Sculptures of the Most Prominent Figures in Burma", and then in 2000 he republished it as second edition with some rewritten passages.

The second edition was submitted in accord with the censor-board's rules of obtaining permission from the publication scrutiny board or the PSB. The problem was that one of the articles was about General Aung San, the father of Aung San Suu Kyi, and the essence of the article seemed to directly criticise the junta's policies. Although the PSB cleared the book for publication, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) charged the author under Publication Act 17/20. The junta imposed a news blackout during Than Wins trial in 2000.

The second case was that of a former BBC stringer, Ne Min. According to the 11 May 2004 statement by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), Ne Min was re-arrested by the MIS who accused him of reporting false news to an unlawful organisation outside the country. He and four other former political prisoners were arrested in February this year and were sentenced to long-terms of imprisonment on 7 May.

Ne Min, a prominent Burmese lawyer and a stringer for the BBC during the 1980s, was sentenced to a fourteen year jail sentence for allegedly sending false rumours to the BBC Burmese service in 1989. He was released in 1997 after serving 8 years in Insein Prison, and now hes been sentenced to a further fifteen years of imprisonment.

On 13 May, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) urged the prime minister, General Khin Nyunt, to grant visas to all applications by Burmese and foreign journalists, to stop advancing censorship, to set up a press centre with international communications and to free imprisoned journalists. The organisation also called on the head of the military government to release Ne Min.

"His arrest and sentence only add to the pressure on Burmese journalists who are doing their best to provide news for foreign media," RSF and the BMA said.

All privately owned periodicals and publications, including the MIS backed Myanmar Times, remains subject to the prepublication scrutiny board controlled by the military junta. Publishers and editors find their jobs very stressful. In order to have time to obtain the approval of the censors, private periodicals are generally published on a weekly or even monthly basis. Therefore self-censorship has taken place as a habitual practice for publishers that have take care that they avoid financial losses and in order for their editors to bring out timely periodicals. As a result, weekly and monthly publications generally do not report domestic political news or social, economic and health related issues.

Imported publications, such as Time magazine, Newsweek, Readers' Digest and foreign newspapers all remain subject to censorship by PSB before delivery, and possession of publications not approved by the PSB means breaking the existing law. The junta has also restricted and discouraged subscriptions to foreign news periodicals. Even though foreign newspapers and magazines are censored regularly at the airport, foreign newspapers may be purchased in Rangoon's black-markets.

The military regime has issued few visas to foreign journalists and rarely holds press conferences on political and economic subjects. Prominent journalists are put on a black list without notice. There were examples of several journalists who entered the country as tourists and were subsequently detained and deported by the regime.

Due to widespread poverty, limited literacy and poor infrastructure, radio remains the most important medium for mass communication. The junta continues to monopolise and control the content of the domestic radio stations. The population depends upon the Burmese language foreign radio broadcasting services, such as the BBC, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and the Democratic Voice of Burma, all of which the regime is unable to censor. The junta occasionally denounces these radio stations as being great liars to the Burmese people.

The regime also monopolises all domestic television channels. The possession of unlicensed satellite television receiver is a crime punishable by up to seven years in prison. The Television and Video Law makes it a criminal offence to publish, distribute, or possess a videotape not approved by the junta's censorship board.

The junta strictly controls the country's access to electronic media, or Internet server, by offering expensive, limited Internet services to a small number of approved customers.

In such an environment, where the country's press freedom is constantly under attack, the junta's Prime Minister pronounced in his address that: "The National Convention that will lead the Union to a stable and a certain future will be held soon and we believe that all are going to participate in it. In the broader interest of the State, I would like to urge those from the world of literature to actively participate in efforts for successful implementation of the seven-point policy program of the State."

But the junta's Prime Minister forgets one thing: that the literati attending the third MWJA meeting are not going to support the undemocratic convention on 17 May. The literati know full well that the current comprehensive crisis facing the nation is a product of the ruling junta. In contrast with other countries in the region, Burma's national prestige has been steadily disappearing for four decades.

The standard of the economy, the education level and people's daily lives are all on a downward path. Everything has been getting worse not because of the sanctions and embargoes, but because of the lack of basic democratic rights, not least among them the severe restrictions placed on the press. Not having free press and speech, the Modern world history teaches us that a nation can never reach a stage of peace and prosperity without free speech and an independent press. So it is ridiculous to hear the junta's Prime Minister's address urging the literati to collaborate as accomplices in building a military-dominated Burma.

One veteran Burmese journalist and political analyst (who requests anonymity) had this to say, "In the near final showdown, the junta has to see the nature of the literati class which always stands with the people cause. Over 1500 intellectuals have been kept in prison including three dozen writers and poets. How could the literati go along with the junta?"

"Put aside support for this national convention. The case is that the generals have fallen asleep in a daydreaming. The time is very near to wake them up. They repeatedly fail to fill the stomach of the nation's populace. That's really a political time bomb for the junta," said the veteran journalist.

Regional players China, Thailand and Japan are closely watching the current political stalemate in Burma. If the junta failed to allow the participation of the NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the European Union has made it clear that they will exert pressure on ASEAN for the Burmese junta to be excluded from the 2004 October ASEAM forum.

We face a turning point in Burma's history, and the eyes of the world are on our country. If the junta does not release all political prisoners (including the Nobel Laureate), sit together with all opposition parties at the dialogue-table, repeal all oppressive laws and allow freedom for the press, Burma will not escape from the current political quagmire. The people of Burma will then be destined to live below the poverty line for many years to come.