Junta is so fearful of the Pen of an Old Journalist

 

_By Dr San Oo Aung

SPDC Generals are using their might of 400,000 strong Myanmar Tatmadaw, very strong police force and a formidable power of pro-junta militant organizations such as Swan Ah Shin, Kyant Phut, etc. to steam roll all the opposition.  Although they are seemingly getting the upper hand in confronting the political opposition of a frail lady Daw Suu and an old journalist U Win Tin and others, their aggressive unkind acts show their inner fear and cowardice. Why they are so scared of a fragile lady and an old journalist?

Reporters Without Borders is publishing the worldwide index of countries according to their respect for press freedom. It also shows that such freedom is under threat everywhere, with the 20 bottom-ranked countries drawn from Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. The situation is especially bad in Asia, which contains the five worst offenders - North Korea, China, Burma, Turkmenistan and Bhutan.

The index was drawn up by asking journalists, researchers and legal experts to answer 50 questions about the whole range of press freedom violations (such as murders or arrests of journalists, censorship, pressure, state monopolies in various fields, punishment of press law offences and regulation of the media). The final list includes 139 countries. The others were not included in the absence of reliable information.

In the worst-ranked countries, press freedom is a dead letter and independent newspapers do not exist. The only voice heard is of media tightly controlled or monitored by the government. The very few independent journalists are constantly harassed, imprisoned or forced into exile by the authorities. The foreign media is banned or allowed in very small doses, always closely monitored.

The index

 

On 2 July 2007 the press freedom organization made a “Joint call for U Win Tin’s release on 18th anniversary of his arrest.”

“We are outraged that the Burmese authorities continue to detain a journalist this old, especially as he is ill and he has served almost his entire sentence,” the press freedom organization said. “Their refusal to free him, although this is allowed under Burmese law, is a sad example of the military regime’s cynicism.”

Since his arrest, U Win Tin has been sentenced successively to three, ten and seven years in prison in trials held secretly inside Insein, the prison where he has spent a total of 18 years. A member of the opposition National League for Democracy, he is the only one of the NLD leaders arrested in 1989 who is still being held.

A political columnist and critic, U Win Tin was one of the advisers of the head of the NLD, Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi; both are behind bars today.

Why are Burmese generals so fearful of the pen of an old journalist and the political will of a delicate and gentle woman?

Myanmar/Burma Military Junta’s stubborn pride seems to be standing in the way of common sense and dignity. They are ignoring the meaningful dialogue, and they don’t seem to have a desire to start a reconciliatory move for peaceful transfer to civilian rule, or even wish to share power with the opposition. Instead, they seem to be just trying to buy time by fooling the whole population of Myanmar and the world by playing the deceit and sham diplomacy of a charade road map to democracy, whilst in the mean time locking up all political opposition and pro-democracy journalists.

One can just hope that the Military leaders may see the truth and have enough wisdom to get out of the political quagmire before all too late.