Journalist Groups Object to Govt’s Press Council Plans

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| May 17, 2012 | 

 

Three groups representing Burma’s journalists say that they will submit a letter to the country’s Ministry of Information objecting to rules relating to a proposed Press Council that will be formed after the current censorship board is abolished.

The three groups—the Myanmar Journalists Association (MJA), the Myanmar Journalists Network and the Myanmar Journalists Union (MJU)—have each held meetings regarding the Press Council regulations. All three, along with associations representing writers, publishers and distributors, recently met with Information Minister Kyaw Hsan in his Rangoon office.

Kyaw Hsan said that Burma’s censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), will soon be abolished and that a Press Council will be formed with the approval of President Thein Sein to monitor the media. The meeting participants were also told to provide a list of six representatives from each of their associations.

Ko Ko, the general secretary of the MJA’s organizing committee and the CEO of the Rangoon Media Group, told The Irrawaddy that the group will tell the ministry which of the proposed rules it finds objectionable.

“We agree with the formation of the press council but we don’t agree with some of the rules,” he said.

“Specifically, we don’t accept the provision that states that the press council will operate under the Registration Department,” he said, referring to the body that will replace the PSRD.

The press council should be an independent organization responsible for resolving disputes, rather than a body charged with enforcing Burma’s draconian press laws, he added.
Under the proposed regulations, the Press Council will monitor journalists to make sure that their work is in accord with the 1962 Printer and Publisher Registration Act and 12-point censorship policy.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, former political prisoner and sports journal editor Zaw Thet Htwe, who currently serves as an organizing committee member of the MJU, said that his group has no plan to join the Press Council at this time.

“Our union aims to protect freedom of expression and journalist’s rights, but based on the minister’s description of the Press Council’s role, we are reluctant to participate in it,” he said.

“I don’t think that the press council will be different from the old censorship board if it includes former members of the PSRD,” he added.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Thiha Saw, the editor of Open News Journal and vice-chairman of the MJA’s organizing committee, expressed a similar opinion.

“We assumed that the Press Council would work for the development of journalistic ethics and to protect the rights of journalists,” he said, adding that he didn’t feel the new body fulfilled these expectations.

The three journalists associations said they will hold a joint meeting soon to share their views on this issue and to form a united front when they present their views to the government.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/4454
 

Hardliners Will Be Left Behind: Thein Sein

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADY| May 14, 2012 | 

 

Burmese President Thein Sein told a coordinating meeting in the capital Naypyidaw on Friday that “conservatives who do not have a reformist mindset will be left behind” while the country is on its path to change.

Thein Sein admitted that certain lessons must be adopted from the by-elections which showed a real public desire for national development. “According to the experience of the by-elections, the public clearly showed that they want change and they no longer like the performance of the governing bodies in each administrative level,” he said.

During the April 1 by-elections, Burma’s main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by Nobel Laureate Aung Sann Suu Kyi, won 43 out of the 44 constituencies it contested.

Naypyidaw’s strategy of reform was widely discussed during the two-day meeting, with Vice-President Sai Mauk Kham also telling participants that “not only political, economic, administrative and social reforms are needed but there also needs to be a change to our mindset.”

Both politicians highlighted altering the attitude of administrative officials so that the country can move forward towards socio-economic development. Thein Sein again raised the significance of respect for the rule of law and provided the example of land disputes relating to investment for regional development.

“One crucial way to move our nation on from being the region’s least developed country is to work on the rule of law. Now we have good policies for change, but these policies will not succeed if those involved are not honest,” the president concluded in his address.

As Burma is now moving on the path of economic development and foreign firms are interesting in investing in the country, Thein Sein also brought up the issues of corruption, land usage policies, regional development and creating employment opportunities.

He added that the decentralization of administration management is crucial to reform so that the implementation of good and clean governance will be successful.

Moreover, the state must allow for “bottom-up initiatives” to strengthen civil society instead of just “top-down orders” for change. “Administrative officials are incapable of managing practically because society and the authorities just follow orders and decisions are made detached from the needs of the public,” he added.

Thein Sein also touched on empowering human resources and managing these assets effectively within social and economic sectors.

He also invited all kinds of Burmese citizens living abroad—including professionals, businessmen and manual labors in exile—“to come back to take part in the change process as we promise to support any difficulties they encounter.” However, he did not provide any transparent procedures for those who want to return home.

In terms of the humanitarian sector, Thein Sein said his administration will collaborate with aid groups in order to effectively respond to the needs of public.

He admitted that “international aid has not been going through government agencies because of corruption in the former administration,” and that only individuals or certain groups have benefited in the past instead of the real people in need.

The president’s action plans for reform have been posted in full on his office’s website for the first time since he assumed power last March.  However, in contrast with this effort to reach the people, state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar, led by Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, censored some important aspects of his speeches.

The first photo published on the Burmese language version of the President’s Office website caught the public’s attention as the seat of Vice-President Tin Aung Myint Oo was seen empty—adding weight to rumors that he had resigned for health reasons.
 

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/4147 

Rangoon Hair Factory Strikers Win Wage Hike

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY| May 10, 2012 | 

 

Striking employees at an artificial hair factory in Rangoon’s Industrial Zone 4 were granted their demands for a wage hike as well as increased workers’ rights on Thursday.

More than 1,800 staff at HI Mo High Art factory walked out over demands for increased pay on Wednesday. They then marched to the Labor Office in Mayangone Tonwship and expressed their wishes to officials there.

An agreement was reached after seven workers’ representatives along with Managing Director Nan Tao Yin and Director-General Win Shein of the factory held a meeting at the Labor Law Administrative office in Hlaing Thar Yar Township on Thursday.

Ya Min Lwin, a female worker representative, told The Irrawaddy that, “all of our demands have been agreed to after negotiations at 2 pm today.”

“We will be able to decide whether to work overtime or not, which in the past we did not have a choice about,” she added. “The factory also agreed not to cut the water and electricity for workers as before.”

In the agreement the workers will also receive daily pay, overtime pay and ferry allowance as usual.

The workers demanded a pay raise from 8,000 kyat (US $9.6) to 30,000 kyat ($36.3) per month. In addition, they wanted overtime pay, a clean working environment, sanitary meals and action to be taken against bad supervisors.

Workers only receive 78 kyat ($0.09) for overtime and must work from 5 pm to 9 pm.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday morning, May Phyu Win, who came to work at the factory from a rural area and so lives in the building, said, “We are provided with unclean meals in the factory every day. Sometimes there were even worms in the vegetables curries so the workers would suffer diarrhea regularly.”

“The supervisors at the factory treat us badly, and we cannot even talk on phone in the case of an emergency,” she added.

The workers had already demanded a salary raise last year but the protest was not serious enough at the time and their demands were unsuccessful. A worker said, “In April 2011, similar demands for a wage hike happened, but at that time we were put in a locked room inside the factory after they told us that they will solve the matter.”

The factory is owned by a Korean businessman with products exported to South Korea, Japan, China and, occasionally, the Philippines.

In similar industrial action, workers at the Myanmar Winery & Distillery Co. Ltd factory in Shwe Pyi Thar Industrial Zone demanded a salary raise on Tuesday, but had still not reached an agreement at the time of publication.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/3941