Time for Kyaw Hsan to Switch Off

Yeni
The Irrawaddy News
www.irrawaddy.com
January 18, 2008

The official order suspending publication of Burma’s partly government-owned weekly, The Myanmar Times, and the resignation under pressure of one of its reporters, Win Kyaw Oo, in a newsroom reorganization are the latest examples of how Minister of Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan is clumsily harassing the country’s media.

The Burmese-language edition of The Myanmar Times was suspended for one week as a penalty for carrying a report about a huge increase in satellite TV fees in its January 11 issue. The newspaper apparently published the story, which quoted an Agence France-Presse dispatch, without requesting the censorship board’s permission.

"The latest sanctions against news media that are already subject to censorship and self-censorship appear to be linked to recent official statements on press freedom," said the organizations Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association in a joint statement.

That is true. Kyaw Hsan recently told Burma’s national association of printers and publishers that they should “place emphasis on improvement of the national economy and guard against destructionists that will undermine the national interest.” Kyaw Hsan warned editors, writers and publishers that the censorship board would “take action” if they wrote “news which can discourage the national interest.”

Since early 2006, Kyaw Hsan has been using his influence on a handful of editors and publishers in Burma to counter criticism of the country’s military regime by opposition and media groups in the West and exiles operating throughout the region.

Burma’s media groups, including The Myanmar Times, are forced to follow the junta’s party line, while some seem to do so out of genuine support for Burma’s military government.

While suppressing press freedom, Kyaw Hsan has opened wider opportunities for local journalists to get information and data from government officials. He has allowed reporters to cover natural disasters, poverty and health issues, such as HIV/AIDS—topics that were previously banned in Burma’s tightly-controlled media environment. He also presents a friendly face at press conferences.


He still has much to learn about dealing with the foreign press, however. Lesson one contains a warning not to prejudge the political leanings of a foreign media organization—as he reportedly did when inviting a team from the TV station Al Jazeera into the country to film a report on Burma. Kyaw Hsan and other generals apparently thought the TV station was anti-American because of its sometimes critical coverage of US foreign policy.

Kyaw Hsan told Al Jazeera presenter Veronica Pedrosa and her crew: “We fully understand the nature of the media and we do not ask to be biased for us. Yet, we hope that your news reports on Myanmar will be balanced and fair, reflecting the background history, actual conditions and situations.”

Just how little he knew about the “nature of the media” was painfully apparent to Kyaw Hsan and his government colleagues when they viewed Al Jazeera’s coverage of the September demonstrations. The excellent film reports were devoured by a large international audience and made Al Jazeera the favorite source of news in Burmese households.

Kyaw Hsan’s blunders earned him the soubriquet Burma’s Comical Ali in the Bangkok English-language daily The Nation, a reference to former Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf.

“In recent days, Southeast Asia has witnessed the emergence of its own version of Comical Ali, Burmese Information Minister Kyaw Hsan of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the highest decision-making body in Burma’s military ruled state,” the newspaper said.

Kyaw Hsan’s latest dumb move was to announce a drastic increase in the annual satellite TV fee, from the equivalent of US $5 to $800, and a $1,000 charge for each TV owned by a hotel.

The increase triggered a storm of criticism, particularly from gambling businesses which need satellite TV coverage of international football matches. The generals are said to be deeply involved in the lucrative gambling business—and Kyaw Hsan’s fee hikes were not appreciated by the top brass, who apparently remained deaf to suggestions that the move would restrict the number of households able to receive foreign broadcasts.

While Kyaw Hsan was having second thoughts about the fee rise, The Myanmar Times went ahead and reported it. Woops!