Myanmar stifling media freedom

Daily Times Friday, April 25, 2008
BANGKOK: Myanmar’s junta has barred domestic media from reporting on opposition to next month’s referendum on a new constitution, media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Thursday.

RSF and the Burma Media Association said they were “outraged” by the methods used by the junta to prevent reporting on opposition to the charter, which pro-democracy activists say will allow the generals to entrench their rule. “The military government is stopping at nothing to rig a referendum that looks as though it is going to be a sham rather than a free and transparent election,” the two organisations said in a joint statement.

Restrictions: “The supporters of a ‘No’ vote must be able to express themselves freely in the media, and journalists must be allowed to report all viewpoints.” They said no Myanmar media had been allowed to publish the views of supporters of a “No” vote in the May 10 referendum. RSF also called on the authorities “to let the press do its work without prior censorship and to allow foreign reporters to visit Burma freely.

This is a condition for the international community’s recognition of the validity of this election.” State media have been running extensive editorials and junta slogans calling for a “Yes” vote but have not reported on opposition to the charter. “To approve the state constitution is a national duty of the entire people today. Let us all cast ‘Yes’ vote in the national interest,” the English-language New Light of Myanmar said in a front-page banner on Thursday.

The back page urged all those who are real patriots, and “loathe foreign interference and manipulation” to “VOTE ‘YES’ for ratification of the constitution.” The paper has also published daily poems and cartoons praising the constitution and calling for a “Yes” vote. Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) has called on the public to vote “No” and said any attempts to campaign against the constitution were being suppressed, sometimes violently.

“An intimidating atmosphere for the people is created by physically assaulting some of the members of (the) NLD,” it said in a statement earlier this month. “For these reasons, it is now obvious that the forthcoming referendum cannot be free and fair.” The European Union said Wednesday it hoped for a free vote but was preparing to extend sanctions against the regime, while the United States announced it would resubmit a draft statement in the UN Security Council to insist on a “credible” referendum. afp

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