Media in Burma

As mentioned before, Burma is slowly becoming more democratic and the Burmese Military Government is stepping down gradually. A civilian government has been named, but not establish completely. And while this transition is still in progress, there are many laws and restrictions that are still active as part of the military government. One of those restrictions is the freedom of communication.  The Military Government punishes video journalist and anybody that sends information outside the country that is consider unlawful by the Military Government.

Many video journalists are currently imprisoned and accused under laws like the Electronic Act witch bans the citizens of Burma to send information and limiting the use of the internet. Anybody that violates this law can be imprisoned for a maximum of 20 years. 

It is unbelievable how some of these laws even exist today. The restrictions of information, not only keeps the world uniformed about what is going on in Burma, but also affects their own citizens by limiting their rights of knowledge. According to the Video Law, one must have a license to have recording equipment. These laws limit the press to not show the cruelty of the military power. In addition many of the natural disasters that constantly occur in this area are not informed to the world.

Sources

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YESV-xyjQVQ (Free Burma VJ Campaign) – This video talks about some of the video journalist that are currently imprisoned. It also shows some footage of the Military Government cruelty.

http://freeburmavj.org/news-and-report/media-burma - More information about media restrictions and laws in Burma.

Myanmmar Now

                Hello fellow internet users, let's continue our journey of discovering Myanmar. As I mention before the Burmese Military Government is still in power and making changes to the country. Recently they have changed the capital state, the country’s name. They also changed the flag of the country.

                                                            

Before

(Now)

            

  

   

Also like I said before the military government declared to step down and give the power to civilian government when the civilian government is ready and well organized. Since then the country is improving but slowly. They have unblocked the websites that were blocked since the military government took charge. The websites that were block and now unblocked are:

·         www.google.com

·         www.yahoo.com

·         www.skype.com

·         www.ask.com

The military blocked those sites so that the people won’t be able to show the world the cruel things and events that were occurring in Myanmar since the military took charge. Now that they unblock those sites, Burmese people that are in other countries are able to contact their relatives back in Myanmar through the World Wide Web instead of just calling by phones. They also get to see each other using webcams through Skype or other video chatting services. So now a day, Burmese people can freely use the World Wide Web but some sites, programs and services are still blocked and banned.  Computers are very expensive in Myanmar, not all people can afford them. The people who have computers are either wealthy or business owners. Business owners rent small buildings or places and will set up their computers there and charge people by the hour if they want to use it. That’s one way to make money in Myanmar.  There are some business owners that do the same thing with games and game consoles.  All those games, computer rental center still exist and very popular in Myanmar.

Burmese cultures

Remember when I mention there are Burmese who are from a certain region, they think their region is the country instead of being part of the Country (Myanmar)? Their Nationalism is Burmese but they speak their own languages and such. Only the people from the region Myanmar speak Burmese.   Here are the regions again: Chin, Shan, Kayah, Kayin, Kachin, Mon, Myanmar, and Rakhaing. 5 out of 6 regions speak other languages instead of Burmese, they are able to speak and understand Burmese but they refuse to. They are too proud of their regions that they think of them as their own country. So one could say Myanmar have 6 different type of people. Within those 6, there are many cultures.  However there are holidays that all 6 regions celebrate as the same.

A brief history of Myanmar

As I mention in my last post, Myanmar is located in South East Asia and it a small country.  Myanmar has neighbor countries such as China, India, Lao, and Thailand. Out of those four countries, China and India have a lot of influence in Myanmar, from movies to cultures.  The Chinese and Indian movies and shows are broadcast every night around 8-10 pm by Myanmar national cable.        Myanmar government use to be democratic back in the 90s, however military over thrown the democratic and the country was ruled by military government ever since till recently. Recently, the military government agreed to step down and let the country be rule by civilian government. As of now, the country is ruled by civilian government but the military government still has the power in the back ground.  I won’t go into many details about politics till later posts.   Myanmar is divided into 6 different regions.  Every region dislikes one another and believes their region is a nation instead of being part of the nation. People who are from Myanmar region will call themselves Burmese but others don’t want to call themselves Burmese instead they call themselves by the name of their region. The regions are called: Chin, Shan, Kayah, Kayin, Kachin Mon, Myanmar, and Rakhaing.  I am from Myanmar region and I was born in Rangoon which was the capital city until they change it, now the capital city is Naypyidaw which is right in the center of Myanmar.  In the next post, I will explain about the regions and the cultures they have in it.

               

Introduction

Good afternoon fellow internet users. My name is Mohammed Yarsin. I was born and rise in a country called Myanmar.  I am 17 years old and currently a student in The University of Texas at Dallas. I lived in Myanmar for 2/3 of my life. When I use to live there, the official country name was Burma till recently it was changed to Myanmar.  You will see me use both Burma and Myanmar in my future posts from time to time but I will only do so if it doesn’t create any sort of confusion.  I can speak and write Burmese fluently.  My family and I moved to America 5 years ago but we still are in touch with our relatives that are in Myanmar.                

Myanmar is a small country in South East Asia. People don’t know a whole lot about Myanmar. Some just know the countries that are next to Myanmar and just a few people know some facts about the country but nothing deeper or surpass that. The reason I created this blog is to help people discover more about Myanmar, more than knowing where is located. From here on out, everything I post will be related to and relevant information and facts about Myanmar; Myanmar is a beautiful country and if you follow my blog from start to the end, you will learn fascinating information, facts, and gain knowledge about Myanmar from cultures to politics and everything in between.  My next post will be a brief history of Myanmar.