"Hiding from Myanmar's police, journalist Aung Marm Oo refuses to conceal his anger with the civilian government led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as his country prepares for an election later this year. “Democracy is already dead,” the 37-year-old editor-in-chief of Development Media Group (DMG) told Reuters from a secret location where he is in hiding. “They blocked media, restrict media agencies, banned news, punish journalists. Media is the lifeblood of democracy in the country. Without media, how can democracy survive?” When Suu Kyi was released from house arrest by a military junta in 2011, Aung Marm Oo was a student activist living in exile. Her release helped persuade him to return home and enter journalism. The 2016 election that brought Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) to power ended half a century of military rule. But the generals retain strong influence under a constitution that reserves sweeping powers for the military, and 25% of seats in parliament for its appointees. The interior ministry is controlled by the Tatmadaw, the official name of the armed forces, and the freedom of civil society and the media remains restricted in a country plagued by ethnic conflicts..."