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BURMA RELATED NEWS - September
13, 2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Myanmar to allow citizens to receive
satellite TV
AFP - Outraged Asian nations pledge
anti-terrorism support
Dow Jones - Some Fear Terrorism Also Imperils
Their Privacy
Reuters - Spurred by attacks, ASEAN cuts
investment deadline
AP - U.S. Assures Koreas on Policy
Xinhuanet - ASEAN Photo Exhibition Opens in
Thailand
Xinhuanet - Realization of ASEAN Free Trade Area
Welcomed by Economy Ministers
FEER - Wordsmithery
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday September 14, 9:36 PM
Myanmar to allow citizens to receive satellite TV By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's
military government said on Friday it would issue licences for all satellite
television receivers, a move seen as a fresh sign of political thaw in the
reclusive country.
Myanmar has not issued any licences since 1993, and only around 2,000
satellite dishes, mainly belonging to hotels and government offices, have
licenses. But tens of thousands of Myanmar citizens have installed unlicensed
receivers.
Official newspapers said owners of satellite dishes would have to pay an
initial licence fee of 12,000 kyat (about $20), plus 1,200 kyat per television
set if the receiver was connected to more than one television.
The paper said unlicensed dish owners who failed to pay the fee within 100
days would face legal action.
"Last February, we warned all owners of unlicensed receivers to apply for a
license or face legal action," a senior official from the Ministry of Post and
Telecommunications told Reuters.
"We then received more than 20,000 applications from owners throughout the
country, but I'm sure the actual number of unlicensed receiver owners is far
higher than this," he said.
"We've now decided to issue licences to everyone who applies."
Myanmar has three television channels, all mouthpieces for the ruling
military. Many citizens rely on alternative sources of information, such as
foreign radio and satellite television transmissions.
Many Myanmar citizens welcomed the news, and said they hoped the government
would also ease its strict controls over use of the internet.
Only 11 private users in Myanmar, all of them local computer technology
companies, are licensed to access the Internet, and only 3,100 users have
permission to use e-mail.
Myanmar has been ruled in recent decades by a succession of military
regimes that have tried to minimise outside influences on the country and stifle
internal dissent.
The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) ignored the result of
elections in 1990, won in a landslide by the opposition National League For
Democracy (NLD), and has harassed and imprisoned opposition politicians.
The NLD's leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, has been held
in de facto house arrest for a year.
But following the start of confidential talks between the government and
Suu Kyi, there have been signs of an easing of the military's iron grip. More
than 150 political prisoners have been released and restrictions on top NLD
members have been partially lifted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday September 14, 8:15 PM
Outraged Asian nations pledge anti-terrorism support SINGAPORE, Sept 14 (AFP) -
Asian nations outraged by the bloody attacks on the United States and bedevilled
by their own domestic and cross-border threats pledged Friday to back a global
drive against terrorism.
China, India, Pakistan as well as Central and Southeast Asian countries
have all thrown their support behind an international effort against shadowy
terror groups, but exactly what role each will play remains to be seen.
There are mounting expectations of a major US strike against Afghanistan,
which is harboring Osama bin Laden, the billionaire Saudi dissident linked to
the terrifying airplane crashes at the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon.
"I think they will cooperate because the region as a whole is faced with
terrorist problems so it would be in their interest to cooperate," said Lee Yew
Ying, a senior analyst with Asian research group Strategic Intelligence.
"What used to be an internal problem is now potentially an international
concern," said the Singapore-based analyst.
But a repeat of the Gulf War, when Arab states backed the United States
against Iraq, is unlikely in this case, despite the presence of US troops in
Japan and South Korea and American military access to other Asian
countries.
"The crucial difference that we need to make is that in the Gulf War it was
against a nation state," Lee said.
"But here you are talking about a group that is without borders and is very
fluid and very invisible, so that's a much harder challenge that the US will
have to deal with," she added, noting that intelligence was one possible area of
cooperation.
At a meeting Friday in Kazakhstan's capital Almaty, Russia, China and four
Central Asian countries said they were prepared to work with all states to root
out the global threat of terrorism.
They called the attacks a "challenge to the fundamental principles of human
civilisation."
In New Delhi, officials said India will offer operational help to the
United States in the event of a US military strike in the region.
The Cabinet Committee on Security decided to offer "all assistance
required" for any US operation in pursuit of the perpetrators of Tuesday's
attacks on New York and Washington.
"In using the formula 'all assistance required,' it is to be understood
that this means military as well as intelligence," said a senior government
official who declined to be identified.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf met his top military officers to
consider a US request for help in hunting down bin Laden.
Musharraf has promised the United States his full cooperation in the
aftermath of the attacks but both governments have refused to reveal details of
their discussions.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Thailand was willing to
cooperate in retaliatory action, but stopped short of specifying whether it
would provide troops or allow its allies to use Thai soil to stage
attacks.
"We are willing to cooperate against any evil action carried out against
the global community, and the government will find a suitable role," he
said.
Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said cooperation was important
and that governments want to "punish those responsible," but "we have to make
sure that we are punishing the right people."
Indonesian chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, asked Thursday
if Indonesia would support any US military operation, said the country's
position "should follow the people's aspirations."
People in the world's largest Muslim-populated nation have expressed shock
at the terrorist attacks but some Indonesian commentators have urged Washington
to consider the resentments its policies have created, particularly in the
Middle East.
South Korea said it would discuss any request for cooperation from the
United States.
"Concerted international efforts are required to fight terrorism and we are
ready to take part in discussions with the United States on this issue," a
senior foreign ministry official said.
The Philippines, troubled by Muslim separatists and bandits with suspected
links to Middle East terror cells, has been providing intelligence to the United
States but may have missed one crucial person.
An Omani questioned by Philippine police three days before the US attacks
was apparently in one of the hijacked jets used to plow into the centers of US
financial and military might.
The man and two others were questioned after filming the US embassy in
Manila from a hotel room last week but were released after police checked their
tapes and found "standard tourist scenes," an official said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday September 14, 5:26 AM
AWSJ(9/14) Some Fear Terrorism Also Imperils Their Privacy By staff reporters Nick Wingfield and Lee Gomes in San Francisco, Ted Bridis in Washington and Connie Ling in Hong Kong There are increasing concerns within the U.S. and elsewhere that
antiterrorist measures taken in response to this week's attacks may jeopardize
personal freedoms and further tighten the government's control of how
information flows in some countries.
In addition to their on-scene efforts, the U.S. authorities quickly turned
their attention in this latest investigation to the Internet. Law-enforcement
agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, this week demanded
information about some subscribers from both AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America
Online Inc. and EarthLink Inc., the nation's largest Internet-service providers,
people familiar with the matter said. Both providers said they were cooperating
with the agencies.
On Tuesday night just hours after the attacks, EarthLink was served with a
court order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which gives law
enforcement special authority when investigating state-sponsored terrorism or
espionage.
A person familiar to the investigation said investigators demanded
information from Microsoft Corp (Singapore: MSFT.SI - news). and Yahoo Inc.
about some users of the companies' Hotmail and Yahoo e-mail services. Yahoo
wouldn't say whether it received a warrant or subpoena.
"Yahoo is fully cooperating with authorities," a spokeswoman said.
Microsoft wouldn't confirm whether it was contacted by authorities.
There was no early evidence, other than the demands from Internet service
providers, that computer communications played a role in planning of the
terrorist attacks. But some experts note that Osama bin Laden - the Saudi
Arabian exile believed to be in Afghanistan and who is accused of masterminding
previous anti-American attacks - has demonstrated sophistication in the past,
including use of satellite telephones and encryption.
In Asia, where contemporary terrorist attacks have included the sarin gas
attack in Tokyo and kidnapping by Muslim rebels in the Philippines, some
advocates for privacy and political freedoms fear anti-terrorism initiatives may
be used by certain governments to justify or even tighten the flow of
information.
Already, there has been momentum in many Asian countries to control
information and the Internet, particularly in such countries as China, Myanmar,
Vietnam and Singapore. James Gomez, a Singapore-based political activist, said
these governments may seek to justify their restrictions due to the U.S.
incident, he said.
In Singapore, for instance, the government tightly controls the Internet
and the media, and the Internal Security Department conducts extensive
surveillance within the country. Political leaders have repeated emphasized the
importance of foregoing certain civil liberties for national security and the
attacks in the U.S. will make it appear more legitimate, privacy experts argued.
Singapore, China and other countries "are starting from a point of already
controlling information flow," said Shanthi Kalathil, an associate with Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace in Washington. "So to further tighten the
control will not be difficult." Within Asia, China probably has the most
extensive control of the media and the Internet - access to information is
restricted through tough legislation as well as computer software and hardware.
Most democracies in Asia have laws guaranteeing personal freedom and
privacy by limiting government surveillance and control of information.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday September 14, 8:39 PM
Spurred by attacks, ASEAN cuts investment deadline By David Brunnstrom HANOI (Reuters) - The
Association of South East Asian Nations agreed on Friday to speed up the removal
of investment barriers, saying the global slowdown and uncertainty after the
terror attacks in the United States made this more urgent.
ASEAN trade and economy ministers meeting in Hanoi brought forward a
deadline for removal of barriers to non-ASEAN investment in agriculture,
forestry, fisheries and mining to 2010 from 2020 for the bloc's six richer
states and to 2015 for the four others.
They said they had shortened the period for the manufacturing sector to
2003 from 2010 for the six and set the date for compliance by Myanmar, Laos,
Cambodia and Vietnam at 2010.
Singapore Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo said the ministers held
lengthy discussion about the economic implications for ASEAN of Tuesday's
attacks in New York and Washington, which dimmed hopes for a quick pickup in
flagging regional economies.
"It is not clear what the effect will be, but it could be for the worse,"
he told a news conference.
"It was partly as a result of this that we decided to accelerate the
end-date for national treatment of investors. Originally we had planned a more
modest advance of five years."
"This should only be for starters," Yeo said, adding that ASEAN planned to
hire international consultants to conduct a comparative analysis of the region
as an investment destination against competitors like China.
In a joint statement, the ministers expressed concern that the economic
slowdown in the United States and European Union and the recession in Japan had
dampened demand for ASEAN exports, which faced the possibility of a contraction
this year.
AFTA PROGRESS HIGHLIGHTED
At the same time, they hailed progress towards a ASEAN Free Trade Area
(AFTA), saying this would be realised by the six original signatories by the
start of 2002, well ahead of schedule.
They said by next year, 42,377 tariff lines representing 96.2 percent of
those listed would have tariffs of 0.5 percent.
The ministers agreed the six older ASEAN states would extend tariff
preferences to the newer members from the start of next year, bringing potential
benefits of up to $400 million a year.
On Wednesday, Japan and ASEAN said they would jointly study ways to build a
closer economic partnership given China's impending entry into the World Trade
Organisation and increasing diversion of investment into that country.
Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said ASEAN needed to build as
competitive an investment base as possible.
"How do we market ourselves as a competitive production base, when we have
China there, we have other countries like Mexico who are also vying for same
investment?"
"We also want to make ASEAN a dynamic market by itself -- we have a half
billion or more people," she told the news briefing.
ASEAN initiatives went only so far and members needed to examine individual
investment barriers, she said. "We need to do it in a hurry, because the world
cannot wait for ASEAN."
ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo Severino said the effect of the attacks in
the United States was still difficult to assess.
"It increases the uncertainty of the situation, because we don't know what
is going to happen to oil prices; we don't know what's going to happen to the
stock market," he told reporters.
"It depends on what the U.S. is going to do and what is going to happen in
the Middle East -- if indeed it is connected to the Middle East."
ASEAN groups Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei and Indonesia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Assures Koreas on
Policy
By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The
terrorist attacks in the United States are unlikely to affect Washington's
willingness to negotiate with North Korea, the new U.S. ambassador to South
Korea said Friday.
Thomas C. Hubbard spoke a day ahead of the resumption of talks between
South Korea and North Korea, which is on a U.S. list of nations that sponsor
terrorism. However, the North has not been implicated in a terrorist act since
the 1987 bombing of a Korean Air jet near Myanmar that killed all 115 people on
board.
``I can't imagine why (the terrorist attacks) should have any impact'' on
the U.S. goal of engaging in dialogue with North Korea, Hubbard told The
Associated Press before a commemoration for victims of the attacks. South Korean
lawmakers hosted the event at the National Assembly.
Hubbard hinted that the attacks in New York and Washington could delay U.S.
policy on the Korean Peninsula, saying: ``Obviously, we are still sorting out
the situation.''
Citing skepticism about the communist North, the Bush administration
suspended talks earlier this year and said in June that it was ready to resume
dialogue. Official contacts between the two Koreas broke down because of the
U.S.-North Korean tension.
``We remain interested in building peace around the world even as we deal
with this terrible terrorism problem,'' said Hubbard, a former ambassador to the
Philippines who took his post this week.
Impoverished North Korea is eager to get off Washington's terrorism list,
which rules out bank loans from international financial organizations that are
heavily influenced by Washington.
North Korea is accused of sheltering a handful of Japanese leftist
terrorists who participated in the hijacking of a Japan Airlines flight to North
Korea in 1970.
Inter-Korean talks begin Saturday in Seoul after a six-month hiatus. South
Korean President Kim Dae-jung (news - web sites) proposed that the two countries
adopt a joint statement opposing terrorism.
North Korea earlier condemned the attacks, but also warned the South that
``outside interference'' would undermine rapprochement. The North often uses the
phrase to refer to the United States, the South's chief ally.
North Korea's prompt denunciation of terrorism ``may signal that it does
not want any confrontation with the United States at this moment,'' said Lee
Jong-sok, a North Korea expert at Seoul's independent Sejong Institute.
``Despite its rhetoric, it does really want to engage in dialogue and
improve relations with the United States,'' Lee said.
North Korea has spurned the U.S. offer to resume dialogue because of
Washington's suggestion that they discuss possible withdrawals or reductions of
communist troops near the border with South Korea.
Prior discussions focused on curbing the North's long-range missile
program, and did not address conventional forces.
Washington has often cited the potential threat from North Korea as a
reason for its plan for a missile defense system.
Reunions of separated family members and efforts to relink a cross-border
railway that was severed shortly before the 1950-53 Korean War are likely to top
the agenda at the four-day, Cabinet-level talks in Seoul.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASEAN Photo Exhibition Opens in
Thailand
Xinhuanet 2001.09.14 17:08:17 BANGKOK, September 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) Photo Exhibition was unveiled Friday in the northern
resort of Chiang Mai, 780 kilometers north of here, the state-owned radio
reported.
The week-long event, organized by the Thai foreign ministry and the
National Culture Commission, is aimed at promoting awareness and knowledge
about ASEAN among the general public, especially students.
It is also expected to help enhance the better understanding of ASEAN
region's diversified cultures and traditions.
The main theme of the exhibition is Working Together in Southeast
Asia, which encompasses four sub-issues, namely A Concert of Southeast
Asian Nations, A Partnership in Dynamic Development, A Community of Caring
Societies and An Outward- Looking ASEAN.
The exhibition is displaying 184 photos from 10 ASEAN member
countries, 12 of which were selected as winning entries of the ASEAN Photo
Competition and Exhibition organized by the ASEAN Committee on Culture and
Information (COCI).
Among the winning pieces, five were from Vietnam, three from Myanmar,
another three from Thailand and one from Singapore.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Realization of ASEAN Free Trade
Area Welcomed by Economy Ministers
Xinhuanet 2001.09.14 21:44:43 HANOI, September 14 (Xinhuanet)
-- Economic ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) Friday welcomed the realization of ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) on
January 1, 2002 by the original six signatories to the Common Effective
Preferential Tariff (CEPT) Scheme for AFTA well before the original target
date.
They agreed that the realization of AFTA should be "widely
disseminated in all ASEAN countries."
According to a statement issued after the 15th meeting of the AFTA
Council, as of this year, each of the six members -- Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- had reduced tariffs
to 0-5 percent on at least 90 percent of its tariff lines in the Inclusion
List. The average CEPT tariff rate for the six countries is now down to
3.21 percent. By next year, 42,377 tariff lines representing 96.2 percent
of the Inclusion List of six members would have tariffs of 0-5
percent.
The ministers agreed to unilaterally extend tariff preferences to
ASEAN's new members Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam beginning January
1, 2002 and the ASEAN Integration System of Preferences (AISP) would be
implemented on a bilateral and voluntary basis and would be based on
products proposed by ASEAN's new members.
The AISP would benefit ASEAN's new members by extending preferences
to nearly 400 million U.S. dollars of their exports a year, the ministers
noted.
ASEAN enjoyed a strong trade growth in 2000. Total exports grew by 19.9
percent from 353.3 billion U.S. dollars in 1999 to 423.6 billion dollars
last year while imports rose from 293.1 billion dollars to 360.1 billion
dollars, a year-on-year increase of 22.8 percent.
Intra-ASEAN exports also grew by 26.3 percent while intra-ASEAN imports
grew by 27 percent in 2000. The level of intra-ASEAN exports of 97.8
billion dollars last year exceeds the previous peak of 85.4 billion
dollars reached in 1997.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Far Eastern Economic
Review
BURMA -
Wordsmithery
Control over writers and the media seldom
comes tighter than it does in Burma, where freedom of _expression_ is suppressed,
often brutally. But despite the hardships and risks a light still glimmers among
the country's literary and artistic communities
By Brian Mockenhaupt/RANGOON
Issue cover-dated September 20,
2001
THE DRAWINGS are spare and simple, black on white. There
are scenes of village life, comic exchanges between a citizen and a police
officer, a child questioning a befuddled parent. But in each of the 200-or-so
cartoons stacked in a drawer at Maung Sun Than's home, there is something
forbidden. One insinuates government corruption, another hints at Burma being
left behind as the world moves forward. All of them made it no further than the
Press Scrutiny Board, the office that controls every word and image published in
Burma.
"They hate me," Maung says. He is sure that military
intelligence knows where he goes, whom he meets. His cartoons have made him a
dangerous man for a government that uses its near-complete control of
information to promote itself as Burma's best and only medicine--and stamp out
anything that says otherwise. "I am not from the opposition party. I am not a
rebel. I fight through intelligence," he says. "I am trying through the thinking
way. I am trying the knowledge channel."
That is as hard today as it has ever been. The censorship
that started when the military took over Burma in the early 1960s has become one
of the most prominent identifying marks of today's junta. The campaign to
control everything published inside Burma has spread well beyond journalism to
poetry, literature and film-making. Art exhibits must be approved. Lyrics about
politics and social change are snipped out of rock songs.
Censorship has left an information vacuum here, with
people knowing little about what happens in their own country. The dozens of
weekly journals and monthly magazines dwell on entertainment, culture and
sports. There are no stories about government policies, living conditions in
Burma or dissident minority groups. Writing about democracy is, of course, off
limits. So is almost any form of criticism of the government, even mentioning
the electricity problems of Rangoon. For the handful of daily papers in
Burma--there were more than 30 in the 1950s--content is tightly controlled and
centres largely on the activities of the ruling generals.
And for those who don't behave, there is always the
censor's pen, or worse. According to rights groups, Burma is now imprisoning
more than a dozen journalists--in 2000 this was more than any other country.
Because of the risk of retribution, the names of several individuals quoted in
this article have been changed.
READING BETWEEN THE
LINES
And yet, there is a dynamic community of writers and
artists in Burma that has survived and, in some cases, thrives despite being
under the government thumb. Many can be found at the hundreds of outdoor
teashops that dot city streets. They discuss philosophy or postmodernism or, in
hushed tones, politics. Stories are assigned, manuscripts critiqued. At one
central Rangoon teashop, the owner serves up to 300 cups of tea a day to the
writers, composers and cartoonists who crowd around the low tables along the
street. "It's nice to have these people as customers, but everyone is so
emotional," the owner says. "Mostly they talk about not being satisfied with
their work and with the government."
The two go hand in hand. For this community there is no
topic of greater consequence, or frustration. Many of them push hard to get
their message out, to find a way around censorship, but there is the fear of
going too far. They are wary of speaking to or being seen with foreigners. They
are afraid for their families' safety. They are afraid of prison. "We are afraid
of everything here," says the editor of a weekly journal. "We need more
freedom."
The government's answer? You can't have it. Not
yet.
Now is not the time for individual rights, like freedom of
_expression_, says the junta's spokesman, Lt.-Col. Hla Min. Now is the time for
community rights, stability, peace, a stronger economy--and he says the two
cannot happen together. "We are telling people to be more understanding and
patient. Myanmar is going through an evolution. We don't want anyone to create a
revolution," he says. "Some people say, 'Your country is not a democracy.' I
say, 'You are speaking the absolute truth'."
He says: "We can't achieve what we need to achieve if we
are too democratic. Everyone walks in different directions so we have to push
and guide so everyone goes in the same direction."
CENSORS AND
SELF-CENSORSHIP
Hla Min also plays down the bogeyman image of the Press
Scrutiny Board, Burma's censorship office. Without irony, he notes that much of
the censorship comes not from the PSB, but from the people themselves. "The
people are very used to the old socialist habit. They don't want to give strong
recommendations to the government."
Maung, now in his 40s, hardly agrees with that. He has
plenty of strong recommendations for the government, and a drawer full of
never-to-be-seen cartoons to show for it. "When I was a child, I wanted to be a
cartoonist to draw funny pictures. Now drawing funny pictures is only the medium
for carrying my ideas. I want to talk to the public," he says. "I will try to
stop their eyes and I will try to make it stick in their memories."
The trick, then, is reaching his readers without tipping
off the censors. Maung, who is paid $2 per cartoon and supplements his income by
drawing advertisements, compares his work as a political cartoonist to a soccer
match. He can only loft the ball in front of the goal; he must rely on the
reader to head it in. "I always estimate the condition of the goalkeeper and the
referee," he says. "The readers must jump very high." If the message is too
obvious, it will be censored; too obtuse and the reader won't
understand.
Like most writers and artists here, his work is a mix of
metaphors and symbolism, hints and innuendo. There is no other way. "Direct
criticism of the government is pretty much impossible to get away with," says a
Western diplomat who has worked extensively in Burma.
Added to this is the petty corruption. "You can't pay to
get things through that are politically dubious," he says, "but you have to pay
to get things through that are perfectly normal."
Under law, censors can snip anything detrimental to the
government, the economy, national unity, security or law and order. Incorrect
ideas, obscene writing and nonconstructive criticism are also
prohibited.
There can be justification, then, for censoring almost
anything, and the censors will often err on the side of caution, rather than
letting a potentially offensive passage slip through and putting themselves at
risk. In recent years the government has also become more sensitive about what
and how often it censors. Previously, offending passages were ripped out of a
book or covered with ink. Now, prohibited material must be replaced with new
writing to give the appearance it has not been censored.
This has created a powerful climate of self-censorship.
Saddled with the cost of re-editing a film or reprinting a magazine if a story
is censored, editors and publishers often do the work of the censorship board.
"The editor is the first censor," Maung says. "Their mind is already censored."
Likewise, writers and artists will change material to suit the censors or not
submit it. Many writers and artists have been changed, and are doing what the
government wants, Maung says. Others have fled to Europe, the United States or
Thailand where they can work freely--or they have simply quit.
"People are less creative now because of censorship," says
Kyaw Min Ya, who has been writing short stories about family life and society
for 25 years. "If I think my story won't pass, I won't submit it." Sometimes she
is lucky and the censors approve her stories largely untouched, but she must use
ambiguous words that only hint. "Right now," she says, "it's a game of cat and
mouse to avoid the censors." The effect, she says, is obvious: the writing is
less interesting, so fewer people read it.
Were Gen. Aung San alive today, he would no doubt cringe
at these policies--and he would find little favour with the junta. Aung San, the
architect of Burma's independence, and father of opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, spent his youth as a newspaper editor and union leader who rallied students
in protest against the British occupation. Indeed, says one of the country's
most prolific authors, the general is being written out of Burma. Before 1988,
his face could be seen on currency. Not now. "One day, no one will know who Aung
San is," he says.
The author is gathered with a group of men over a pitcher
of beer at an outdoor café just down the street from Gen. Aung San's house--now
a museum--and right next to the censorship office. One of the men is a
government official, a few are book publishers. "It's very complicated,
literature today. It's not satisfactory," says the author, who writes mostly
about culture and religion. "The main factor is that office," he says, waving
toward the censorship building. "No one has freedom. How can literature be
successful if it is suppressed? How can it flourish?"
The government awards national literature prizes each year
to books that no one likes. Stores are filled with dozens of magazines and
journals, but they lack substance. "There are so many, but it is quantity, not
quality. We don't like such publications, but what we like, they are not allowed
to publish," the author says. "Good literature cannot be produced at the
moment." Asked if the situation will change any time soon, there are hearty
laughs around the table. "They censor for the sake of themselves," the author
says. "They want to live for a long time."
Cracks are appearing. The government has eased its rabid
attacks against Aung San Suu Kyi and an increasing number of Burmese have e-mail
access. Some of the local press has been allowed to run stories about the
country's HIV problem and visits by United Nations delegations. The Myanmar
Times, a new English-language newspaper, has written about talks between the
government and the opposition National League for Democracy and about the need
to introduce the Internet. Such leniency, it is hoped, will filter down, giving
the censors a lighter touch.
Maybe. But Maung is ready to wait a little longer. "The
future is not sure, but you must work every day," he says. "My job is to create
a beautiful future. If I have a chance to kick the goal, I must be ready. If I
am sleeping and fat and I have the chance, I will kick away from the goal, so I
must train every day." So he waits and he works and he plays the game with the
censors. But he longs for more. "It's like eating a snack," he says. "It is not
real food and I am hungry."
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