MyanMarDr Ma Thida
Myanmar’s National Convention
process – which was set up to
negotiate a democratic constitution –
took 14 years to be realised. After the
1990 election (voting in the National
League of Democracy) was ignored,
several activist groups campaigned
against the military regime in
secret. In 1993, one such activist,
surgeon and writer Dr Ma Thida,
was arrested on accusations of four
charges: endangering public serenity,
contacting an illegal organisation,
and printing and distributing illegal
materials. She was sentenced to 20
years’ imprisonment.
Released five-and-a-half yearslater, she published her prison
memoir Prisoner of Conscience:^
My Steps through Insein, which
was released in English last year.
She spoke to Asian Geographic
about her life, work, and the
current challenges facing Asia’s
newest democracy.
“Long-term censorship, propaganda and an
ineffective education system have made our
society intellectually blind”
WITH RESTRICTIONS RELAXED,
HOW HAS THE MEDIA IMPACTED
PUBLIC DIALOGUE?
Although there is no more
censorship board, self-censorship
still occurs. There are existing laws
that limit freedom of expression,
directly and indirectly. Many civil
society organisations work hard to
expand the boundary of freedom of
expression, but it is not easy – even
under the new government. Media
and information literacy amongst
the general public is also limited,
and media practice through the
required media licence is controlled
by the Ministry of Information.
Throughout the last five decades,
only government cronies or pro-
government business people could
obtain a licence. Although new
licences were guaranteed after 2012,
the media landscape is not changing
effectively. State-owned media –
especially print – are still dominating
the market share, and controlling
access to information.HOW IS WRITERS ASSOCIATION PEN
MYANMAR CURRENTLY PROMOTING
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION?
I am currently a board member of PEN
International. PEN Myanmar has three
missions: to promote and protect
freedom of expression, to establish a
vital literary culture, and to create a
bridge between literature and school
education. “Literature for Everyone”
is a community-based literature
activity which provides a space for
writers and readers to appreciate
literature and discuss their opinions.
PEN Myanmar also partners with
other civil society organisations
(CSOs), and our advocacy work has
proved successful in catalysing law
reform processes. We have started
a roadshow which runs workshops
on freedom of expression with both
regional and national parliaments, as
well as with local CSOs. We also have
plans to organise more activities oncultivating public opinion, and to start
a poetry slam contest. I regularly hold
public literary talks on why our society
needs freedom of expression, and how
we should practise it.IS THE SPIRIT OF DEMOCRACY
BEING TRANSLATED INTO ACTION?
The spirit of democracy is the hardest
thing for the majority of our people to
understand. Long-term censorship,
propaganda and an ineffective
education system have made our
society intellectually blind. It is hard
to change people’s mindset in terms
of their understanding of leadership
and governance. I think that the
current political leadership is busy
with the peace process and other
priorities – like negotiating its
authority with the still-powerful
military – and so the spirit of
democracy is not being translated into
action effectively just yet.WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE IN MOVING
MYANMAR FORWARD?
Without social change, political
change cannot be understood as
effective change. The collective dream
of a federal democratic society is
more or less well-recognised, but it is
not understood, nor adopted, by the
majority of people yet, as they cannot
visualise it. Public and private entities
should play a role in helping people
share in this collective dream. This
can be done if the political leadership
guarantees freedom of expression and
opinion – including press freedom. agPrisoner of Conscience: My Steps through
Insein was a bestseller for several months
since its release in 2012. It is available at:
http://www.silkwormbooks.com/products/prisoner-
of-conscienceprofile