Rangoon bans Thai references

Published on May 31, 2002

Burmese authorities have banned privately run publications from publishing articles with any reference to Thailand, as well as the placing of Thai advertisements, sources said.

The move follows continuing tension between the two neighbours.

"The authorities summoned us and he had to sign a pledge saying that our magazine would not carry any Thai-related advertisements or any articles [on Thailand]," said the publisher of a business magazine in Rangoon.

The ban was issued on May 22, a day after Burma abruptly closed its border checkpoints with Thailand, he said.

On May 20, Thailand and Burma swapped protest notes after Thai troops and the United Wa State Army, a Rangoon-aligned ethnic militia, traded fire across the border in the northern province of Chiang Mai. Relations have remained tense since then.

Another industry source confirmed the ban had been issued, and said his June publication would need to be re-done.

"Our magazine, which is due for publication next month, will be delayed by at least two weeks because of the heavy censorship it went through," the source said.

"At least two-thirds of the magazine is unusable now because the authorities blacked-out all the words pertaining to Thailand, such as Thailand, Bangkok and Yodaya [Thailand's former name in Burmese]," he added.

The Paris-based organisation Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) called the directive "grotesque".

"The military junta has just issued yet another grotesque directive which, in addition to depriving the population of news about Thailand, threatens the very existence of private publications that dependent on advertising," it said in a letter to Burma's Home Affairs Minister Tin Hlaing.

The junta tightly controls all media in Burma. Publishing rights are doled out exclusively by the Home Ministry.

Groups licensed to publish must present their materials in advance to state censors.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Rattakit Manathat said that the ministry was waiting for confirmation of the ban from the Thai embassy in Rangoon.

The ministry would decide what to do after receiving the confirmation, Rattakit said.

Deputy Defence Minister General Yutthasak Sasiprapa said that he was prepared to go to Rangoon next week if the border remained tense.

"I have to go to Singapore from this Friday to Sunday to attend an international meeting of defence ministers. If when I return home ... the border tension has not yet been solved, I will volunteer to travel to Rangoon to seek a solution," he said.

On Wednesday, Rangoon announced that it would not issue entry visas for delegations of Thai officials.

Meanwhile in Parliament, Defence Minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh yesterday tried to fend off criticism of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's warning to the Thai Army not to "overreact".

"What the prime minister wanted to say is that if light mortar fire spills over the border to the Thai side, the Thai Army should respond with light mortar as well, not a cannon," Chavalit said.

He was responding to a motion by opposition MP Sukhumbhand Paribatra calling for an explanation of the government's handling of the border tension and Thaksin's warning to the Army.

In Chiang Mai, a senior customs official said that the closing of border checkpoints was preventing narcotics from being smuggled into the Kingdom.

The closure made it easier to monitor and suppress narcotics trafficking, the official said.

The Nation, Agence France-Presse RANGOON

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