COMMENT Illusion of freedom in
Myanmar By Francis Wade
CHIANG MAI - An apparent relaxation of
media regulations suggests that Myanmar's once
watertight censorship board has in recent months
undergone something of a change of heart.
The amendment to the country's press laws
in March to allow the majority of non-news
journals to bypass pre-censorship was accompanied
by last week's announcement that two
Thailand-based dailies, the Bangkok Post and The
Nation, will soon be allowed to hit newsstands in
Yangon. Both events have helped to massage the
carefully crafted image of a government loosening
its grip on the media as it moves steadily towards
democratic reform. Aiding the revamp is
President Thein Sein, a remnant of the previous
ruling junta who in his few public appearances since
taking office has sought to
dilute his hardline image with somewhat reformist
rhetoric. He used his first speech as the
country's new leader to emphasize that the media
is the "fourth estate" in Myanmar and demanded
that both civilians and ministers "respect the
role" it plays.
His words would seem to
mark a sea-change for media freedom from the
half-century of military rule that ostensibly
ended on March 31 with the installation of an
elected government. Beneath the surface, however,
little has changed for the country's harassed
journalists and censored publications. The new
rule allowing some 200 journals and magazines to
avoid the scrutiny of the censorship board is
reserved only for fluffy publications that deal
with topics like sport, children's literature and
entertainment - the sort of material that poses
little threat to the rulers.
Still at the
mercy of government censors is any magazine that
reports on political topics or questions decisions
made in parliament, which means that any hint of
public debate or commentary about the new
government and its leaders will continue to be
redacted.
Indeed, the ostensible
relaxation of censorship rules could in fact make
the working environment more dangerous and
unpredictable for domestic journalists. Previously
it was up to the censorship board, known as the
Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD),
to spot and block news that could be considered
critical of the government and its policies. Now
the onus has shifted to the scribes themselves,
with the result that they can no longer safely
test the limits of the law and will take the full
weight of retribution whenever they are perceived
to have crossed an ever-shifting line.
Observers know well the potential penalty
of pushing this boundary in a country where nearly
30 media workers are currently behind bars. Some
of them are serving decades-long sentences,
usually on trumped up charge, for their critical
news reporting. They are a constant warning to
other local journalists and a motivation for
self-censorship that is endemic at local news
publications.
About 2,200 political
prisoners are currently locked up in Myanmar's
prisons, a situation the newly elected parliament
has failed to address.
Myanmar's
consistent ranking at the tail end of press
freedom indexes is one of a number of barometers
historically used by the international community
to justify punitive measures, including economic
and financial sanctions, against the regime. But
nearly 15 years after the first set of economic
sanctions was implemented, international players
are increasingly questioning their efficacy.
The European Union (EU), for instance,
recently suspended a visa ban and asset freeze it
had imposed on a number of senior government
officials. The United States, too, has moved
tentatively towards more engagement after imposing
new financial sanctions against the military
regime and its business supporters after its 2007
crackdown on Buddhist monk-led street protests.
Thein Sein's government has capitalized on
this potential opening through a carefully
choreographed public relations campaign that began
with last November's elections and the release of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and has
continued with recent reform vows.
These
cosmetic changes have helped to shift image
perceptions, seen in the EU's dropping of some of
its punitive measures in March and its coincident
praise for the regime's "greater civilian
character". United Nations official Vijay Nambiar
followed with his own kudos, saying the regime has
demonstrated "very encouraging" signs after his
visit in May.
Old authoritarian
ways Despite this high-level praise, so
far there is no indication that the government has
overhauled the authoritarian and unchecked way
power has long been wielded in Myanmar.
On-the-ground evidence points to the contrary,
with armed conflict in the border regions
escalating and the harsh political sentencing of
journalists and dissidents continuing apace since
last year's elections. Two journalists from the
exile-run, Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma
were recently jailed for eight and 13 years for
merely photographing the aftermath of mysterious
grenade attacks in Yangon last year.
To be
sure, marginal new media space has opened. In
particular, domestic journals have been allowed to
cover the Middle East and North Africa uprisings
but have been barred from publishing any hard or
comparative analysis of those events.
Some
believe a real acid test will come on July 3 when
neighboring Thailand heads to the polls after
violent street protests and a military crackdown
last year. Fresh in the minds of Yangon's news
editors will be last year's three-week suspension
of The Voice, after the popular magazine ran a
piece on Thailand's "red shirt" anti-government
movement that irked the censorship board.
At the same time, there are parallel
indications that the regime is tightening its
grip, particularly over the Internet. Media
watchdog Reporters Without Borders released a
report shortly after last year's elections
alleging that what the government had presented
publicly as an Internet "upgrade" would in fact
improve its on-line surveillance capabilities.
"The new system requires Internet requests to go
through even more ISP [Internet service provider]
servers and therefore users are subjected to more
screening and controls," the report said.
Reporters Without Borders also claimed
that the upgrade gave the military exclusive
control over the country's main link to the global
Internet, meaning that during times of crisis or
upheaval authorities will have the power to shut
down publicly-accessible Internet servers without
affecting its own access.
Underground
journalists who have kept the world informed about
pivotal events that the regime has tried to censor
will in future struggle to feed footage and
information to foreign news outlets, as they did
so effectively during the August-September 2007
uprising and crackdown.
The government's
improved online surveillance capabilities are
already on display: in April a former army captain
was arrested for possessing an e-mail with the
words "national reconciliation" in its title. He
faces up to 20 years in prison under the draconian
Electronics Act and may well carry the distinction
of being the newly elected government's first
political prisoner.
Strict rules for
Internet cafes that require owners to take regular
screen shots of their computers and send them to
the Telecommunications Ministry every month have
also been tightened. Customers can now no longer
use CDs and external hard drives.
In March
authorities enacted a ban on the use of
Internet-based services like Skype that allow
locals to avoid exorbitant international telephone
costs but are also more difficult for the
government to monitor.
The duplicity of
the government's reform vows and actual policies
is plain and clearly out of step with a genuine
democratic transition. So far that's being lost on
what was once a more discerning international
community, judging by the EU's and UN's recent
praise of the regime and its direction.
Those premature kudos will allow the
country's new rulers to claim democratic gains
where they are lacking and shy away from the media
and other reforms needed to ensure that the new
elected government isn't a carbon copy of the
military old.
Francis Wade is a
Thailand-based journalist with the Democratic
Voice of Burma.
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