Pro-junta article blasts award nomination for jailed journalists
By Tin Maung Htoo
Burma Media Association (www.bma-online.net)
August 16, 2001
Pro-junta article published on state-run New Light of Myanmar on August 13 and14 sharply criticizes the nomination of a "media group" consists of 24 journalists and dissidents in Insine Prison, saying those nominees are "lawbreakers" and no way to deserve the "International Press Freedom Award."But charges have been turned down by today's press release of Burma Media Association (BMA), retorting the article as the "latest smear campaign" against imprisoned colleagues and the organization.
The article states that Burma Media Association (BMA) compiled a list of 24 persons serving prison terms for committing crimes or breaking laws and recommended them as journalists to be worthy of the Canadian press freedom prizes. But BMA's president Maung Maung Myint said the nomination is to focus on the movement of press freedom in prison for that they were given additional sentences ranging from 5 to 12 years.
"We nominated them for their wonderful media movement including magazine publishing inside prison, smuggling out the report to UN special rapporteur Yozo Yokota and a prisoner's shirt on which prisoners of conscience put their signatures to the UNHRC [United Nations Human Rights Commission] annual meeting in 1995," said Norway-based president.
A two series of the article titled "They Dare not Show Their Faces -24," also labels the nominator exiled Burma Media Association (BMA) as a colonialist informer and Paris-based Reporters without borders (RSF) as a collaborator,putting one more international media advocate group into their targeted spot.
"The so-called RSF or the unruly reporters group in France, hand in glove with the informer group of Myanmar [Burma] fugitives, announced that it demanded continued international punitive action against Myanmar [Burma] government until it released the '18 journalists'," asserted in the article.
Paris-based international media watchdog group, RSF, released report about imprisoned 18 journalists in last month, decrying Burma the country where most of journalists being detained in Asia. And it subsequently recommended EU, U.S. and international community to keep pressure on Burmese military regime unless journalists are released soon.
In the article, the author missed up with a number of factual errors to which what a member of BMA rebuked is a "intentional and systematic method" to degrade those imprisoned journalists and try to tarnish the sincere attempts of BMA. Ko Soe Myint, editor of India-based Mizima Magazine and joint-secretary of BMA, said the military government has lack of knowledge and poor information about BMA even though their military intelligence service and global surveillance network is supposed to be thrilled. He referred to what the article portrayed BMA as a capacity with a few members based in Canada with the attachment of foreign influence.
In fact, BMA has ten branches with the Washington D.C. base, and it represents a overwhelming number of Burmese expatriates working in print press and broadcast field around the world. Among its 70 members, some well known figures such as U Thaung, U Tin Moe, U Win Khet, Maung Tha Ya, and Zin Lin are included. And it stands as an independence media organization established early this year to advocate and practice freedom of expression in Burma, and there is no sign of affiliation or association with any foreign media group so far.
When contacted to Burmese Embassy in Ottawa to respond to this matter, the embassy used the defensive way for the article, insisting that they would be saddened if the prize is chosen to award to those who have been nominated without checking out the real reason for their detention. Daw Yin Yin Oo, the first secretary of political affair also added, " It is unfortunate that the Burma Media Association personnel had never contacted the Myanmar Embassy for clarification but had approached the CJFE with one-sided views."
Despite who wrote the article is still puzzle to verify, a wide range of people notice that a series of article written under the pen name of "Pauk Sa" is masterpiece and stereotype of a high ranking military officer or a group of watchmen from junta's Information Committee.The Committee is the most well informed group in country embodied with government spokespersons and also likely affiliated with the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). Such kind of assaulting articles regularly appear on daily government-controlled newspaper are broadly considered as the real voice and perspective of the ruling military government, as evidently reflected in the Ottawa embassy's response.
"This latest smear campaign against our imprisoned colleagues and our organization only serves to strengthen our resolve to bring their plight to the international community by contacting government leaders and journalist organizations," cited as Maung Maung Myint saying in the press release.