OBSTACLES TO INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
IN BURMA
World Summit on the Information Society
Geneva, December 8-11, 2003
By Cham Toik
The major problems that exist
in Burma today can
be traced to the formation of the Union of Burma when a diverse group of
indigenous peoples agreed to work together in peace before they were freed from
colonial rule. But just months after
leaders of the majority Burman and the Shan, Chin, Kachin
and Karenni nationalities signed the Panglong
Agreement on February
12, 1947,
General Aung San (father of Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi) was
assassinated and their hopes of establishing a Federal Union were dashed. When Burma gained
independence from Britain in 1948,
the government of U Nu, who had succeeded General
Aung San, was installed. Almost
immediately, the rights of the minority ethnic nationalities were rejected and
civil war broke out. As a result
of the denial of basic freedoms for the ethnic nationalities and the right to
self-determination previously agreed upon, this civil war has dragged on for
half a century and Burma
has become one of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) in the world. To this day the Burman military government
blames the ethnic nationalities for the country’s failure to develop on a par
with other countries of Southeast Asia.
Lack of fundamental freedom (Article 19, Universal Declaration of Human
Rights)
Things went from bad to the worse
when General Ne Win seized power in a coup d’etat in
1962 and immediately introduced restrictions on freedom of expression, and the
free press became virtually non-existent.
Various laws, decrees and acts were imposed to restrict freedom of press
and expression. The country was ruled
through a one-party system known as the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP)
and other political and social organizations including those of the ethnic
nationalities were forcibly disbanded and muted.
Under one form or another, state censorship
continues to this day. Under the present
military government, the Press Scrutiny Board (PSB), a division of the powerful
Ministry of Information, scrutinizes every publication considered to be
‘anti-government’ and consequently perceived as a threat to the military state.
Similar censorship boards retain stringent control over art, music, film,
performance and all other forms of artistic expression. All authors,
publishers, journalists and poets must submit a personal biography to the board
of literary censorship. The board then investigates to find out if these individuals
have any association to opposition political parties or connections to other
people or groups deemed a threat to the regime. Anyone suspected or proved to
have ‘undesirable’ connections is placed on a blacklist and their work is not
allowed to be published. (See chapter
on. Freedom of
Opinion, Expression, and the Press in the Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2002-3 at http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/Yearbook2002-3/yearbooks/11.%20Freedom%20of%20Opinion,%20Expression,%20and%20the%20Press.htm
)
As part of their overall effort to control information, the present military
regime severely restricts all forms of communication. Without a government
permit, which is expensive and difficult to obtain, individuals can be arrested
for possessing or using a fax machine, mobile phones, photocopiers or
computers; and imprisoned for years. (See, for instance the Computer Science Development Law of 1996
at http://www.myanmar.com/gov/laws/computerlaw.html
In the past month alone, a court
in Burma sentenced nine people to death for high treason, including the editor
of a sports magazine, Zaw Thet
Htwe, and some Mon leaders, Nai
Min Kyi, Nai Yekkha and Shwe Man, who the junta claimed planned to create a mass
movement in collusion with members of Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy party. (AP:
Rangoon December 3, 2003)
There are only two Internet
service providers in the country: a department of the Government’s
Telecommunications Ministry and Bagan Cybertech, a company controlled by the son of the military
government’s Prime Minister and top ranking military officers. Access to many
parts of the Internet is blocked and only about 10,000 subscribers have been
approved to use email. (Open
Democracy Website, Power of Corporations,
June 2003)
Civilians are forbidden to
communicate with the outside world freely, and although many have access to foreign radio and telephone services,
no independent media group is allowed to operate inside the country. This
situation has marginalized people, depriving them of information whose only
source is the propaganda apparatus of state-run media, which is next to useless
as a reliable news source.
Radio and TV programmes
(there are only a few radio stations in Burma) are state-owned and most are the
mouthpieces of the regimes propaganda machine -- no ethnic and indigenous
language programme is broadcast apart from 30 minutes a day for the 7 major
ethnic groups combined (Shan, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Arakan and Mon) in their
languages.
Assimilation
policy
Centralization of
the government has affected the life and culture of all indigenous peoples in Burma. The non-Burman
communities have systematically been deprived of their birthright to teach in
their own languages and produce creative literature to preserve their cultural
heritage. Under the Burmanization
policy exercised by successive Burman governments in Rangoon, the indigenous
peoples are not allowed even to study their own literature in their own
language in schools, whereas the Burman language is made the dominant and only
official language to assimilate and drown out all other ethnic voices.
In the case of the Mon people, who
lost their sovereignty more than two centuries ago in 1757, Buddhist
monasteries now serve as the centres for preserving
old Mon palm manuscripts and provide a venue for community schools as
well. Over the last few decades,
patriotic young Mon people and the monastic community have taken a united stand
by undertaking self-help Mon literacy campaigns throughout the Mon region. Every summer when the
government schools close down, large numbers of Mon children and adults enroll
in these schools in the monasteries to learn the basics of Mon literature. This self-help Mon literacy movement provides
a glimmer of hope for the Mon people to learn their own language and literature
in parts of the country where their homeland is located. However, even this
self-help Mon literacy movement is constantly under surveillance and cannot
grow freely under the rule of the Burman-dominated, racist military
dictatorship. (See the Mon Unity
League’s: The Mon, a people without a country at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Bridge/1256/monhistory1.htm
)
Some monastery communities and students have applied
to the military government’s Press Scrutiny Board for permission to publish in
the Mon language but they are regularly refused permits to print Mon books,
even though the contents pose no threat because they are simply articles from
Burmese-language magazines translated into Mon. These writings are not remotely related to politics,
yet the PSB still refuses to give permission because of the assimilation policy
towards minorities and indigenous peoples.
Only a few Mon magazines endorsed by senior and
revered monks have been given granted publication rights by the regime and this
only after waiting through a long censorship process directed by various levels
of the administration. At least six
months are required before approval is given and often the authorities do not
issue permission or offer a rejection, but simply ignore the application.
Ethnic minority journalists
and publishers have also been arrested and imprisoned by successive military
governments in Burma. In
1976, a well-respected Mon abbot, Rev. Palita, was
arrested and sentenced to 7 years for publishing the Gatub Khit Mon magazine. Rev. Palita,
79, has written more than 30 books in Mon and heads a monastery at Kamawet village, Mudon Township,
chairs a summer school program in Mon literacy, and through his work has
inspired hundreds of young Mon to continue writing in their native tongue. When on trial in Moulmein in 1975, he refused to
speak in Burmese, even though he knew it well enough. "This is Monland," he argued, "where I should be able to
speak Mon in official matters." Rangoon
has continued to control state's affairs and insisted that Mon speak
Burmese in all official matters. (See
“Mon Culture: Dying or Reviving?”, by Min Zin The Irrawaddy, Octobe 2003 at http://www.irrawaddy.org/database/2003/vol11.8/culture.html
)
Nai Soe Aung, a leader of the Mon Literature and Culture
Committee was arrested for publishing a poetry book and Kaung
Mon Press in Rangoon was shut down
by the authorities in December 2002 after printing poetry without the approval of the
Press Scrutiny Board. (See Kao Wao News No. 38 at http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/KW38.htm
Another example of ICT in Burma
is that while the SPDC was setting up IntraNet centres in the high school (Basic
Education High School),
computers in Kamawet village, Mudon Township
belonging to private business were asked by local
authorities to equip the village school for media and computer training due to
a computer shortage in the school.
Senior military leaders Maung Bo and Thura Myint Aung came coming to the village and school to hold a ceremony to
opening computer training. The
authorities need about 10 computers but the school has only 5 and another 5 were
needed. So most
computers were taken from the village’s various printing businesses. Kamawet is the
largest Mon community in Mon State
with about 10,000 households. The
computer businesses operating in the village are forced to provide computers
during the training course, most students in other schools do not have the
chance to access computers even after training, because the number is so
limited and teachers do not allow them to be used. (See IMNA: 24-11-03 at http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/IMNA2003-11-24.htm )
The new challenge
In 1988 the Burma Socialist
Programme Party government formed by General Ne Win
collapsed as a result of a popular uprising.
This people’s movement was bloodily suppressed and a new military clique
seized state power. Many civilians and
students fled to the border areas and neighbouring
countries where they continue today in refugee camps or small enclaves known as
liberated areas.
Some media groups have emerged in
these liberated areas (border areas) among Burmese democratic groups and
indigenous peoples during the ‘90s.
However, very few
publications, journals and magazines in the border areas are distributed in the
Chin, Karen, Kachin, Arakan,
Shan and Mon languages, For the most
part, the democratic Burmese media groups who use Burmese have gained an
advantage in being well ahead of them.
The seven million people of Mon
ethnic origin in Burma
and Thailand
have no radio station or daily newspaper in their own language. Two monthly news journals (Snong Tang and Khit Poey), with a circulation of about 2,000
copies are the only Mon language publication to serve the migrant community and
the remote areas of Burma. Otherwise the Mon community must follow the
news through Burmese and Thai language media.
Kao Wao Newsgroup was founded in 2001 to provide information about the
situation in the Mon areas to the international community regarding ethnic,
indigenous issues, forced labour, land confiscation
and other human rights violation in Southern Burma.
The small indigenous media groups
depend for survival on self-reliance and the donations of a small band of
patriotic-minded supporters. Some
receive limited funds from NGOs and donations from the local community. Without proper training and government
funding, indigenous media groups are facing a new challenge to keep on a par
with major and international communities.
Regular and sustained support
will be necessary if these fledgling independent media groups are to survive
and increase their news coverage on issues affecting the indigenous peoples,
ethnic nationalities and isolated communities that they seek to serve. Above all, we indigenous people really need
to have the freedom to exercise our fundamental rights in order to enlist
support and develop awareness within the international community and concerned
governments, without access to our own communication media, indigenous people
will not be able to empower ourselves.
Self expression is a form of asserting control over one’s destiny and it
is a key factor for indigenous peoples in our struggle to take responsibility
for our own communities in the contemporary world, to achieve equality and
alleviate poverty in the societies in which we live. Only as we “find our own voice” will we be
able to create the understanding that is needed to build a peaceful world where
we can all live in harmony with one another.
(Cham Toik, is the
International Representative of the Mon Unity League, an umbrella organization
of Mon people from Burma and Thailand. He is founder and editor of
the Kao Wao Newsgroup, an independent media service working for social justice
and freedom in Burma.)
Contact info;
Email; [email protected], [email protected],
Web; www.kaowao.org