Topic: International Politics
People of Myanmar need Asia's support to hasten their passage to democracy
By ZIN LINN
Special to The Japan Times
BANGKOK -- It was ridiculous to hear Myanmar's prime minister, Gen. Khin Nyunt, call on the literati to collaborate with the government in building a military-dominated nation.
Addressing the third meeting of the Central Body of Myanmar Writers and Journalists Association (MWJA) -- held at the Union Hall in Kyaik-ka-san Compound in Yangon from May 11-13 -- Khin Nyunt urged public support of the junta's road map to democracy. He said he hoped all invited parties would attend the national convention that resumed May 17 to frame a new constitution. But key opposition and ethnic group leaders are not participating.
In his speech to the MWJA, the prime minister said, "Nowadays, the government, based on national strength, is implementing, step by step, a 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."...
Khin Nyunt concluded: "All the literati should 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 a successful implementation of the seven-point policy program of the state."
Myanmar's main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), had said repeatedly that it was almost certain to attend the national convention. "But this of course is conditional on the military authorities' agreeing to a set of suggestions that we put up to them April 30," NLD secretary and spokesman U Lwin told reporters. After the junta responded negatively to the suggestions, NLD announced it would not attend the forum.
Before the MWJA meeting, two incidents involving suppression of press freedom and a coverup by military authorities emerged from the junta's prison quarter.
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 for violating Publication Act 17/20, and sentenced to seven years in prison in June 2000. His case was aired by the Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma on May 13.
Than Win had published a book in 1995 titled "Historic Sculptures of the Most Prominent Figures in Burma." In 2000, he issued a second edition with some passages rewritten. Although the second edition was submitted, in accordance with censorship rules, to the Publications Scrutiny Board (PSB) and cleared, one of the articles was about Gen. Aung San -- the father of prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi -- and was considered directly critical of the junta's policies. The Military Intelligence Service (MIS) had Than Win arrested, and the junta imposed a news blackout on his trial.
The second case is that of Ne Min, a former stringer for the British Broadcasting Corporation. According to the May 11 statement of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Myanmar), Ne Min was re-arrested in February by the MIS, which accused him of reporting false news to an unlawful organization outside the country. He and four other former political prisoners were sentenced to long prison terms on May 7.
In 1989, Ne Min, a prominent Myanmar lawyer, had been sentenced to 14 years in Insein Prison for allegedly sending false rumors to the BBC Burmese service. He was released in 1997 after serving eight years. Now he has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.
On May 13, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) and the Burma Media Association (BMA) urged the prime minister to grant visas to all applications by Myanmar and foreign journalists, to stop expanding censorship, to set up a press center with international communications and to free imprisoned journalists. The groups 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," the RSF and BMA said.
All privately owned periodicals and publications, including the MIS-backed Myanmar Times, remain subject to the PSB, which is controlled by the military junta. This causes a lot of stress for publishers and editors. To allow enough time to get the approval of censors, private periodicals are generally published on a weekly or even a monthly basis. Self-censorship has become a habit if publishers and editors wish to avoid financial losses and bring out articles that are timely. 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 remain subject to censorship by PSB before delivery. Possession of publications not approved by the PSB is against the law. The junta has also restricted and discouraged subscriptions to foreign news periodicals. Foreign newspapers and magazines are censored regularly at the airport, although some may be purchased on Yangon'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 blacklist without notice. There have been several examples of journalists entering the country as tourists and then being 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 monopolize and control the content of domestic radio programs. The population depends on Burmese-language foreign radio broadcasting services, such as the BBC, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia, and the Democratic Voice of Burma -- the regime is unable to jam all of them. The junta occasionally denounces these radio stations as great liars to the Myanmar people.
The regime also monopolizes 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 offense 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, offering expensive, limited Internet services to a small number of approved customers.
It is amid this environment -- in which the country's press freedom is constantly under attack -- that the junta's prime minister, in his address to the MWJA, urged those from the world of literature to actively participate in efforts to implement the state's seven-point policy program toward a stable and certain future. That includes attending the national convention.
But the literati who attended the MWJA meeting are not supporting the undemocratic national convention. The literati know full well that the comprehensive crisis facing the nation is a result of the ruling junta's policies. Compared with other countries in the region, Myanmar's national prestige has been in steady decline for four decades.
Economic performance, education levels and living standards are all on a downward path. Everything has been getting worse not because of international sanctions and embargoes, but because of the lack of basic democratic rights -- not least of which is the severe restrictions on the press.
Modern history teaches us that a nation can never reach a peaceful and prosperous stage of development without free speech and an independent press.
One veteran Myanmarese journalist and political analyst (who requests anonymity) said: "In the near-final showdown, the junta must see the nature of the literati class, which always stands with the cause of the people. More than 1,500 intellectuals have been kept in prison, including three dozen writers and poets. So how can the literati go along with the junta?
"Never mind support for the national convention. The problem is that the generals have fallen asleep, and are daydreaming. The time is very near to wake them up. They repeatedly fail to fill the stomachs of the nation's populace. That's really a political time bomb for the junta."
Regional players China, Thailand and Japan should closely watch the current political stalemate in Myanmar. The junta has failed to allow the participation of the NLD, led by Suu Kyi, while Myanmar's second-largest prodemocracy party, the Shan National League for Democracy, has chosen not to attend the national convention. The other eight ethnic political parties in the United Nationalities Alliance (representing the Shan, Karen, Chin, Arakan, Mon and Karenni ethnic groups) have also declared that, without the NLD, they will not attend.
The European Union has made it clear that it will exert pressure on the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations to exclude the Myanmar junta from the ASEM forum in October.
Myanmar's people are at a turning point in history, and the international community, especially regional players, should discuss how to help the people of this military-ruled country. Japan and ASEAN in particular should cooperate in finding a solution to the problem.
If the junta does not release all political prisoners (including Nobel laureate Suu Kyi), engage in dialogue with all opposition parties, repeal oppressive laws and allow freedom for the press, Myanmar will not escape its political quagmire and its people will be destined to live in poverty for many years to come.
The Myanmar people are looking to their Asian neighbors, including Japan, to help them overcome their plight.
Zin Linn is an exile writer and ex-political prisoner who serves as media and information director of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma East Office.
The Japan Times: May 24, 2004
No comments:
Post a Comment