World Summit on Information Society: Geneva, December 8-12, 2003

THE INFORMATION AGE: BURMA STANDS ALONE

(Gong Ong: December 12, 2003)

Participants from government delegates, business sectors, civil societies, individuals, and media groups gathered in Geneva to join in the World Summit on the Information Society.

Geneva, known as the international conference city of half a million population, was crowded with over ten thousand participants for the World Summit which was attended by Heads of State, Prime Ministers, Presidents, media bigwigs, and ministers from 176 countries who came to endorse a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action which sets forth a road map to bring the benefits of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) to underserved economies.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan told delegates that we have in our hands, on our desktops, and in the skies above, the ability to improve the standard of living for millions upon millions of people.

But Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union and Summit cautioned that the meeting was only the start of a long and complex process. "Telephones will not feed the poor, and computers will not replace textbooks. But ICTs can be used effectively as part of the toolbox for addressing global problems. The Summit's successes now give us the necessary momentum to achieve this," he said.

On December 11, 2003, leader of Myanmar Delegation for WSIS and Ambassador / Permanent Representative of the Union of Myanmar U Mya Than delivered a statement to the international audience that one advantageous aspect of the ICTs is the multi purpose use of these technologies to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals including infrastructure building, capacity building, and technical and financial assistance for the developing countries, especially within the LDCs (Leased Developed Countries) such as Myanmar (Burma) a country that became a LDC due to poor administration by the same military regime he spoke for.

It is not surprising that the Myanmar delegate ignored the WSIS Declaration of Principles that reaffirms the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, given its position in ICTs.

The Information Society is as outlined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and _expression; that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

And Article 29: that everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of their personality is possible, the exercise of their rights and freedoms, the rights and freedoms of others, and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.

Contrary to the statement made by the Myanmar delegate, ICTs in Burma stands years behind that of the developed countries, even its neighbour Thailand and Malaysia are decades ahead. At the Exhibition Hall in Geneva's Placexpo, the Myanmar exhibition booth was a sad statement of Burma's position in the information age and symbolic of its information society; while it stood out in silence the Malaysian booth buzzed with activity including a colorful mix of culture performers happily demonstrating their country's advancement in ICTs. According to the Malay representative, the government opens up to all businesspersons and potential customers; and sponsors over 150 participants to join this event.

The Myanmar delegation team was comprised of 4 members including the staff from Myanmar Embassy in Geneva. Myanmar Representative U Mya Than was reluctant to talk about ICTs in his country where the telecommunication industry is a classic example of a Potemkin village. In the country computers are sitting silently gathering dust, it is a make believe charade which projects to countries such as South Korea that it is a willing consumer of IT and eligible for help in development assistance in setting up a telecommunication network, in which Myanmar tech advisors are invited to Seoul by major telecommunication companies to learn about ICTs.

The Government of Myanmar established the ICTs Development Council, chaired by the Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt himself. It is true, the two Internet service providers in Burma is a family and military affair: the department of the Government's Telecommunications Ministry, and Bagan Cybertech, a company controlled by the son of the government's Prime Minister and top ranking military officers.

While over 80% of the population has access to Internet in Canada and people can easily use the Internet at only 20 Baht an hour at various Internet Cafés in Thailand, the majority of Burmese people have absolutely no knowledge about the Internet in Burma. Access to the Internet is blocked and only about 10,000 subscribers have been approved to use email, even then email and the Internet is closely monitored.

For many people in Burma having a computer is beyond anyone's wildest dreams. The telecommunication industry in Burma is in stark contrast to that of many developing countries in the region, the junta equips computers in the government (public) schools by demanding that civilians pay for it individually, computers are not even touched because they are only for show and electricity is not easily available.

At the so called IntraNet centres in the Basic Education High School (BEHS) at Kamawet Mon community of Mudon Township in southern Burma, the authorities ordered private business with computers to equip schools for a short media and computer training program because the government is unable to do so. Senior military leaders appear out of nowhere in the village to hold a drab ceremony opening the computer training programs. The authorities need about 10 computers but the school has only 5 and another 5 were taken from the village's various printing businesses to supply the schools. Most students do not have the chance to access the computers after training.

No one is given the right to hold an opinion or express their views in Burma, they are arrested, beaten and tortured if they do so, and no one is able to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media outlet. A fact, most Asian countries and their companies, such as those from South Korea and Japan, are totally unconcerned or even aware of.

Burma stands alone in the region, while Asian governments boast about assisting in the democracy movement in the Middle East in sending their troops; they do business with a pariah regime, and will probably do so for many decades if Burma isn't allowed to transform its political system on democratic principles. For the military and those representing Myanmar's telecommunication industry, ICT will forever remain a pipedream without the support of civil society. As declared by the WSIS, everyone everywhere should have the opportunity to participate and no one should be excluded from the benefits that the Information Society offers.