April 24, Re****ter Without Borders
Press forbidden to refer to campaign for a No vote in referendum on new
constitution
Re****ters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association are outraged by
the methods being used by the military government to prevent the media
from freely covering the views and activities of the sup****ters of a No
vote in a 10 May referendum on a new constitution.
"The military government is stopping at nothing to rig a referendum that
looks as though it is going to be a sham rather a free and transparent
election," the two partner organisations said. "The sup****ters of a No
vote must be able to express themselves freely in the media, and
journalists must be allowed to re****t all viewpoints."
The organisation added: "We ask the Burmese authorities to let the press
do its work without prior censor****p and to allow foreign re****ters to
visit Burma freely. This is a condition for the international community's
recognition of the validity of this election."
No Burmese media have been allowed to publish the views of the sup****ters
of No vote. The state and privately-owned media have instead been forced
to published articles drafted by official calling for a vote in favour of
the military government's proposed new constitution. The election manuals
that have been distributed make no provision for press coverage of the
campaign and the polling.
The slogans being used in the military government's propaganda are
"Approving the constitution is a duty for the entire population," "To
ratify the constitution, go and vote Yes," "We will always remain united
despite those who try to divide us - vote Yes" and "Democracy cannot be
attained through anarchy and violence, but through the constitution."
These slogans are constantly being broadcast by the government TV and
radio stations. Meanwhile, the Censor****p Bureau is rejecting articles by
journalists such as Ludu Sein Win criticising the constitution. According
to sources in Rangoon, the intelligence services have drawn up a list of
34 journalists to be kept under surveillance in the run-up to the
referendum.
Pro-military journalists have been mobilised to explain the virtues of the
new constitution. For example, an article by Si Thu Aung entitled "New
Constitution and Union system" in The New Light of Myanmar daily on 1
April claimed that it was the only one capable of guaranteeing stability
and development in a country made up of minorities. The same newspaper is
also providing the campaign activities of government officials and the
pro-government USDA militia with extensive coverage.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for
Democracy (NLD), has called for a No vote and has described the proposed
constitution - which would endorse the army's political role and guarantee
its impunity - as anti-democratic. The NLD insists that the No campaign
does not violate a recently-promulgated law providing for three-year
prison sentences for anyone caught distributing do***ents opposing the
referendum. The NLD's views are being systematically censored by the
press. But the accredited correspondents of foreign news agencies have
been able to re****t on the tension surrounding the campaign.
Several dozen NLD members have been arrested for campaigning for a No
vote. In one case, six were arrested at their home in Rangoon on 31 March,
four days after organising a demonstration in the capital calling for No
vote.
At least 60 people were arrested in the northern state of Rakhine at the
start of April for wearing T-****rts calling for a No vote. Several of them
are re****tedly still detained. According to Mizzima News, T-****rt vendors
in Rangoon stopped offering clothes displaying the Thai brand name Nobody
after young pro-democracy activists started using them in their No
campaign.
The Burmese rap singer Yan Yan Chan was meanwhile arrested in Monywa on 17
April, possibly because of lyrics in some of his songs referring to the
lack of press freedom.
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