Journalists In A Prison State

07.11.2005: BMA Conference Paper:

Zin Linn

Agreeing to disagree is a fundamental right only of those who live under a democratic system. Under a military dictatorship system, disagreeing or dissident opinion can be seen as a crime.

Today, Burma is still under the yoke of an inhumane military dictatorship. The downfall of Gen. KhinNyunt and the promotion of Gen. Soe Win showed the factional conflict in the military which the generals used to say indivisible army. It's a showdown between the infantry force and the military intelligence service. According to analysts in Rangoon, It's a counter coup in the military. As some people dream, it is not a conflict between soft-line democrats and the hard-line autocrats. It does not show a political reform nor a policy shift of the junta.

People of Burma have shown their opinion very clearly in the 1990 General Elections, in which the National League for Democracy won a landslide victory. That means people disagree with the military dictatorship system. For that reason, the military regards its own people as its opposition and it changes the whole nation into a prison state. The regime never allowed people expressing a different opinion and it tightly controlled all types of media to be its propaganda network.

In the latest history of mankind, no dictator loves to promote the press to be a free media. No dictator loves to allow the existence of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, especially the Article 19. On the question of Burma, it is also not an exceptional case and the right to freedom of opinion and expression has been under the boots for over 40 years together with the Article 20 or the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

According to today people's general opinion, the freedom of expression becomes one of the most important human rights issue in these days. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says that everyone has the right to freedom of expression. There is no question of difference of race or difference of nationality or difference of religion. Protecting Article 19 is the major challenge to the journalists as well as the democrats of today.

The International Community is pressing the Burmese junta to abandon the autocracy and to go along on a right track of democratic reform. But the junta's Senior General Than Shwe turns a deaf ear to the International Community including his own people and entrenches himself in military absolutism.

Burma's military regime has long been ostracized by Western governments for its poor human rights record. Burma is also notorious for suppression of press and journalism. That's why Burma becomes '' the largest prison for journalists in Asia ''. The political situation in Burma continues to stall at an impasse between the democratic oppositions and the military regime. The media is strictly censored and political opposition parties are denied permission to have computers or to publish their own bulletins. All the publishers of journals, magazines and publications must apply to get a permission or registration license. A publisher also needs clearance of military authorities which is a testimony of not involving with politics. Actually, this kind of license is no other than a yoke of the dictatorship that put on the shoulder of a writer or a journalist.

It is usual for the SPDC to ban freedom of speech, press, assembly, association, and travel. The regime also continues to systematically monitor citizens' movements and communications. They search homes without warrants at any time. They open and check parcels and mails which they suspect. To tap a phone is a common job of the military intelligence personnel. In such a country, no body dares to express his or her opinion fearlessly. To choose a career of journalism in Burma under dictatorship is the most dangerous thing of all. For they have to live under the watchful eyes of the military intelligence service.

Here, for instance, I would like to explain the SPDC or junta's day-to-day administrative system. The basic administration is done by the ward-ship council. Every ward-ship council has a detailed map which shows the situation of all streets, building and houses. If you are a civil servant then your house will be colored green in the map. If you are an NLD or a political dissident, your house is marked with red color. And a house of writer or journalist is painted black. Moreover, every ten-house has one head-man. The ten-house headman must watch the people who live there. He has to inform the situation of those houses to local authorities in daily basic. The military backed USDA members are also the informers of the respective authorities. Therefore, the situation of each family is looked like living in a prison-cell. Because of such system, Burmese people are feeling as if they were prisoners. Then, Burma becomes notorious as a prison state.

Then you may imagine, a journalist in Burma is almost alike a prisoner in his own country. Here, the case of Ne Minn (a former BBC stringer) is a good example. In 1989, according to official Rangoon radio, Ne Minn was charged with spreading false news and sending the anti-government documents to the BBC. He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by a military tribunal in Insein Prison and served 9 years. Ne Min was re-arrested in last February by the MIS accusing him of reporting false news to unlawful organizations outside the country. He and 4 other ex-political prisoners were sentenced to a long-term imprisonment on 7 May 2004.

Another example was about Than Win Hlaing, a writer and journalist, who was secretly thrown into Tha-yet Prison. Ation was taken against him in the summary court under the Publication Act 17/20, and he was sentenced for 7 years imprisonment in June 2000.

He published a book around 1995 titled '' Historic Sculptures that tells the Most Prominent Figures of 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 and getting permission from publication scrutiny board or the PSB. The problem was that one of the articles was portrayed about General Aung San, father of Aung San Suu Kyi, and the essence of the article seemed directly criticizing the junta's policies. Although the PSB had already permitted, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) charged the author under the Publication Act 17/20. He was sentenced for 7 years imprisonment in June 2000.

Burma did earn a good reputation for press freedom after it gained independence from Britain between 1948 and 1962. At that time there were over 30 private newspapers and no need to undergo a censorship board. But it was really a short period that came to an end when the military seized power in March 1962.

In the wake of the military coup, the junta nationalized all newspapers and introduced harsh publishing legislation. It also established a Press Scrutiny Board (PSB), which has been imposing the strictest censorship codes on all forms of publications including calendars, advertisements and obituaries.

The military dictators' constant companion or major instrument of censorship is the Printers and Publishers Registration Law of 1962, which was promulgated shortly after the military coup by Gen. Ne Win. According to this law, all forms of books, magazines, periodicals, scripts of songs and films must be submitted to the Press Scrutiny Board (PSB). Believe it or not, even brand-name papers for consumers' goods must be passed through the censorship process.

Manuscripts for books must be submitted to the PSB before printing and again afterwards put forward for checking that no changes have been made. Magazines are more risky that the editors must submit printed-copies for censorship. If the PSB objected an article, the editors have to remove it and rearrange the pages orderly. Sometime it was not allowed to bring out for the respective month blaming every line in the magazine opposed the regime. Tightly controlled by the Military Intelligence Service (MIS), the PSB has full power to decide on both the number of circulation and the content of the publication. Moreover, the cover designs and paintings of the publications must be taken permission separately from the PSB.

If a rejected painting or article brought out, the editor and publisher would deserve a severe imprisonment for breaking the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Law.

In such a manner, Burma has held the title of the world's worst suppressor of the press and journalism for more than forty years,. It still retains its notorious reputation for jailing writers, poets, editors, publishers, photographers and journalists for supporting democratic idea in their writings and publications.

The next example was about the banning of fortnightly Khit-Sann Journal. On 1st September, the military junta's Board of Censorship made a decision to ban the privately-owned Khit-Sann Journal, which covered update international affairs. It was recently summoned and told that the journal was too "pro-American."

The Burmese junta's spokesman said that financial problems had led to Khit-Sann¹s closure. But information obtained by Reporters Without Borders and the BMA showed that the magazine¹s financial situation was healthy. The two organizations have challenged the military junta's denial that the bi-monthly Khit-Sann was closed for political reasons.

The Khit-Sann or New Age Journal was managed and published by Kyaw Win, the chief editor of the periodical. Kyaw Win spent in prison for twice totally 15 years as a political dissident. In 1982, during Ne Win's era, he was thrown into prison for 5 years. And in 1989, while he was taking responsibility as a central executive committee member of the Ever Green Youth Organization, the current junta accused him of in connection with unlawful organization and put him in prison for ten years. After serving his prison terms, he became a staff editor of Thint-ba-wa(Your Life) Magazine together with two prominent writers, Tin Maung Than and Maung Thit Sinn who are now living in exile in the United States.

After Tin Maung Than and Maung Thit Sinn quit from the magazine, he became the chief editor of the Thint-ba-wa Magazine in 2000. But, the magazine was shut down by the PSB without having a good reason. Then he became chief editor of the Khit-Sann or New Age Journal. Due to his supervision, the Journal was also well-established among the intellectuals and young people throughout the country.

Being an editor of the famous Khit-Sann Journal, he is on the watching list of the Military authorities. And in last June, the junta's mouthpiece newspaper (The New Light of Myanmar) published a pro-military article using his pen name (Kyaw Win) on purpose of misunderstanding in the public. Then Kyaw Win made a strong protest to the military authority telling not to break the journalistic code of ethics. His protest was a rare one and it caused annoyance to the authorities.

Afterward, the PSB summoned Kyaw Win and seriously warned that the journal must change its policy of thinking highly upon the United States and the European Union. Actually, it's a little bit strange because the junta's accused him as a communist and kept in jail for ten years in 1990s. But now, it branded him of a pro-western bloc.

In the same month, Shwe-ba-zun, a monthly magazine published in Rangoon, was also banned by the PSB without giving a reason. The Shwe-ba-zun editor-in-chief May Thinn-gyan Hein received an order to stop the magazine, while her September issue magazine was waiting for the PSB's permission. According to an unnamed senior member of PSB, editor May has been learning English at the British Council English Language Center in Yangon. In addition, she has already finished a journalism course sponsored by the Embassy of the United States of America in Yangon.

The next fault is that her father Htun Htun Hein is an elected representative for Naung-cho constituency in Shan State of the National League for Democracy (NLD). It may be a major question of banning the magazine.

The editor is also popular for her realistic news reportages that portrayed misery of the poverty-stricken families of the present days under the regime. According to literati source in Yangon, it's a dirty game of the junta towards freedom of expression.

The next example was about documentary filmmaker Lazing La Htoi who took records of extreme flooding that hit Myitkyina, the capital of the northern Kachin State, in late July. Lazing La Htoi's video included footage of a dead body and an interview with a local resident citing as many as 50 casualties resulting from the flooding, according to CPJ sources. Local authorities arrested him on July 27 while he was copying the footage.

In 1999, two documentary-filmmakers were arrested similar to Lazing La Htoi's case. Aung Pwint, a documentary filmmaker, editor, and poet, and Thaung Tun, an editor, filmmaker, and poet better known by his pen name, Nyein Thit, were arrested for filming footages in the daily life of poverty-stricken societies in Burma, including miseries in rural areas. The two circulated their documentaries through underground networks. They are still in junta's inhumane jail so far. The two journalists are really deserved to the CPJ's 2004 International Press Freedom Awards

At the same time, the military is trying to deceive the world, as if it were a pro-democracy regime starting to implement the human rights practices. The case was that the regime has prescribed human rights text books for the eighth and the ninth grades students. But, not all 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were included in the text books. It mentions only one-third of the 30 Articles.

The worst is the text does not mention the Article 19 and it emphasizes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should not be accepted as unquestionable rights. Teachers and students must accept it as relative terms, according to the situation of the country. That means the military regime even does not reluctant to censor the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to prolong its military power.

Censorship is imposed in the name of national security. Those found owning pamphlets, books, magazines, cassettes or videotapes that are interpreted as hostile to the ruling junta are arrested and usually serve jail-terms of seven to twenty years.

Although there are some privately owned journals and magazines in Burma, they are subject to an even stricter censorship regulations by the PSB, which can delay their publication by many months.

Some writing never gets permission to be published. To obtain a publishing license, which can be revoked at any time, a would-be publisher has to bribe various military authorities with a great deal of money. Even though, it is still uncertain of getting permission.

So many topics are strictly forbidden for publication. Writers, journalists, poets, cartoonists, photographers, editors and publishers must obey the rules and regulations of the PSB.

All publication-related people must also submit their autobiographies to the Home Ministry. Stories and essays about the poor are never permitted for publication. Articles on sociological crisis, economic difficulties, natural disasters, shipwrecks, train or plane crashes are usually not released.

For instance, at one meeting of the censorship organ of the Home Ministry, warned publishers and editors of journals and magazines that they would face severe punishment if they wrote about the country's banking crisis including the money laundering stories. Similarly, politics and economic crisis as well as misconceived policy of the regime are also taboo subjects for the media and public discussion.

The regime also does not allow public accessing to the Internet, in particular the military intelligence, monitors all incoming and outgoing e-mails. Web mails are blocked by the MIS and people have no chance for advance Information Technology and update news.

Possessing or using a modem or fax machine without government permission is a crime in Burma. The Computer Science Development Law which promulgated on 20th September, 1996 says '' Whoever sets up a computer network or connects a link inside the computer network, without the prior sanction of the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend from a minimum of 7 years to a maximum of 15 years and may also be liable to a fine.''

So it is illegal to own an unregistered modem or fax in Burma. In addition, lack of electricity and expensive charges for Internet services are other factors that block public access to the Internet. Fax machines must be licensed and to obtain a cellular phone permit not only costs $3000 but there is also a years-long queue to apply. Phone lines are often tapped and oversea calls frequently cut. So, not only the journalists but also the average citizens have been disconnected with the outside world intentionally by the regime. That's why Burmese people feel as if they were put into a prison.

Burma has been notorious as "the world's largest prison for journalists" and over thirty journalists continue to languish in jail so far. The country's most respected journalist and art critic, former editor-in-chief of the Hanthawadi newspaper and vice-president of the Association of Burmese Writers, 75-year-old U Win Tin, has spent the last fifteen years of his life in prison.

The military practices absolutism over all aspects of freedom in Burma. The junta has never tolerated any democratic opinions or ideas from citizens.

The laws most commonly used by the junta are - - -

- the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act,

- the 1957 Unlawful Associations Act,

- the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Law and

- the 1975 State Protection Law.

Each provides for long periods of imprisonment for citizens judged guilty of criticizing the ruling junta. In addition, the use of systematic torture and summary courts are the major forces backing suppressive laws and decrees.

As freedom of expression depends on the progress of democratization in Burma, international media and human rights watchdogs should keep supporting the democratic movement against military dictatorship. That's why people of Burma asking for genuine sympathy from the International Community. Detaining over 1500 political prisoners, mostly students, intellectuals, lawyers, doctors, journalists and including the Nobel laureate of the nation while denying access to the media, Burma has no hope of changing into a true democratic federal union.

In such a situation, it may be out of question that a free press is the best guarantee for sustaining political and economic reforms in Burma. Free press is also a necessary force to establish transparency and accountability towards a democratic society.

[The Computer Science Development Law which promulgated on 20th September, 1996]

CHAPTER X

Offences and Penalties

Whoever imports or keeps in possession or utilizes any type of computer prescribed under sub-section(a) of section 26, without the prior sanction of the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend from a minimum of 7 years to a maximum of 15 years and may also be liable to a fine.

Whoever sets up a computer network or connects a link inside the computer network, without the prior sanction of the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend from a minimum of 7 years to a maximum of 15 years and may also be liable to a fine.

Whoever fails to comply with a prohibitory order issued by the Council, or the 'Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs ill respect of the type of computer prescribed under Sub-section(a) of section 26 shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 6 months or with fine or with both.

Whoever commits any of the following acts using computer network or any information technology shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend from a minimum of 7 years to a maximum of 15 years, and may also be liable to a fine:-
(a) carrying out any act which undermines State Security, prevalence of law and order and community peace and tranquillity, national unity, State economy or national culture;
(b) obtaining or sending and distributing any information of State secret relevant to State security, prevalance of law and order and community peace and tranquillity, national unity, State economy or national culture.

Whoever violates any order relating to control issued by the Council under Sub-section(c) and Sub-section (d) of section 7 shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years or with fine or with both.

Whoever imports or exports any type of computer software or any information prescribed by the Council under sub-section (g) of section 7 shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend from a minimum of 5 years to a maximum of 10 years and may also be liable to a fine.

Whoever fails to comply with an order abolishing any computer association, issued by the Council under sub-section (j) of section 7 shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years, or with fine or with both.

Whoever attempts or conspires to commit any offence under this law or abets in the commission of such offence shall, on conviction be punished with the same penalty prescribed in this Law for such offence.

The Court shall, in ordering a penalty for any offence under this Law, confiscate or destroy or dispose of the exhibits relevant to the offence in a accordance with the stipulations.