History of Censorship in Burma (Myanmar)
The history of censorship in Burma, now known as Myanmar, is a complex narrative that reflects the nation’s tumultuous political landscape. Censorship in Burma dates back to the late 1840s, when Buddhist officials prohibited the distribution of Bibles, a move that contributed to the Second Anglo-Burmese War. Under British colonial rule, the government imposed censorship to monitor nationalist movements and the press, which flourished in the early 1950s with a variety of daily newspapers. However, this freedom was curtailed by the establishment of agencies like the Press Review Department and the introduction of restrictive laws in the 1960s.
The most severe censorship emerged after the military coup in 1988, led by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which significantly restricted free expression. Notable figures like Daw Aung San Suu Kyi became symbols of resistance against military rule, advocating for dialogue and democratic reforms. Despite some progress in press freedom in 2012, the situation deteriorated following a coup in 2021, leading to renewed restrictions on media and communication platforms. Today, Myanmar ranks poorly on global press freedom indices, highlighting the ongoing challenges to free speech and expression in the country.
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History of Censorship in Burma (Myanmar)
- DESCRIPTION: Known as Myanmar since 1989, Burma is a Southeast Asian nation that was once ruled as part of British India
SIGNIFICANCE: Burma has had one of the most repressive governments in post-World War II Asia
Burma’s history of censorship started at least as early as the late 1840s when Buddhist officials in Rangoon allegedly forbade the importation and distribution of Bibles by the American Baptist Missionary Society. This prohibition helped provoke the Second Anglo-Burmese War, which ended in 1852 and resulted in the loss of Pegu Province, at the mouth of the Irrawaddy River, to the British, leaving Burma a landlocked nation.
As a colonial power over the next century, Great Britain applied censorship as it monitored the vernacular newspapers and nationalist movements. English novelist and essayist George Orwell’s (1903-1950) first novel Burmese Days (1934) is based on his experience as a colonial policeman in Burma. He later wrote Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), in which he coined expressions such as “newspeak” and “newthink,” which, though more akin to fascism and communism, may have had some Burmese associations.
During the 1950s, Burma’s free press included more than thirty daily newspapers, including six in Chinese and three in English, but that number has since been severely reduced. Creeping censorship began in the early 1950s under such agencies as the Press Review Department, the 1950 Emergency Provisions Act, and the 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Law. The suspension of newspaper publication and the detention of editors occurred during the 1960s.
Burma has a Press Scrutiny Board. In 1975, the Ministry of Home and Religious Affairs issued guidelines including prohibitions on “any incorrect ideas and opinions which do not accord with the times” and “descriptions which, though factually accurate, are unsuitable because of the time or the circumstance of their writing.” The most notorious censorship occurred after September 1988, when the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) assumed power in a bloody military coup. The government's repressiveness was dramatized by Burmese politician, author, and activist, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. The daughter of Aung San, a leading nationalist assassinated in 1947, she has been an outspoken democratic constitutional opponent to the military rule of General Ne Win and his various successors. She told an American Congressman, “I’ve always said that the only answer to Burma’s problems is dialogue. . . . I’m ready at any time, but they [SLORC] seem not terribly keen.” She was placed under house arrest in July 1989, but her restrictions were somewhat eased in August 1995.
Burma’s censorship in the Ministry of Thought has relied on self-censorship and the threat of economic ruin and imprisonment. Much Burmese literature had to be presented to the ministry after it was published, and it had to be passed as fit for the public before it could be distributed and the publishers’ investments could be recouped. Illegal distribution of literature has resulted in twenty-year prison sentences. This has inhibited the style and freedom of expression of Burma’s writers. Paper has been government-rationed and expensive. In the early 1990s, at least twenty government censors worked in the same building that had housed the Japanese secret police during the Japanese occupation in World War II.
While the reading public is the major literary victim of censorship, in Burma, students, writers, and editors have been physical victims, sometimes being killed in demonstrations or dying in incarceration. The 1995 film Rangoon is a cinematic version of conditions under the SLORC regime.
Myanmar made strides toward decreasing censorship and increasing press freedom in 2012 when the government’s Ministry of Information suspended the requirement to pre-screen all publications before they were printed. However, this reformation was short-lived, and following a 2021 coup d’état, the country’s censorship was as strong as ever. The government began restricting WhatsApp, X, and Instagram, along with many other websites. Reporters Without Borders and the Press Freedom Index ranked the country 171 out of 180 countries in terms of free speech.
Bibliography
"Burma." Central Intelligence Agency, 15 Oct. 2024, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/burma. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
Combs, Daniel. Until the World Shatters: Truth, Lies, and the Looting of Myanmar. Melville House, 2020.
"Key Developments, June 1, 2023 – May 31, 2024." Freedom House, freedomhouse.org/country/myanmar/freedom-net/2024. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
"2024 World Press Freedom Index – Journalism under Political Pressure." Reporters Without Borders, rsf.org/en/2024-world-press-freedom-index-journalism-under-political-pressure. Accessed 20 Oct. 2024.
Woods, Philip. Managing the Media in the India-Burma War: Challenging a ‘Forgotten War’. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.