Minister of Information KYAW Hsan of Burma
efforts to transform Myanmar into a democratic country.
agreed at the National Convention.
When asked about the prospect for talks between Daw Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy and the government, Kyaw Hsan said that the NLD leader had not yet responded to the regimes announcement detailing its preconditions for dialogue.
Kyaw Hsan took his hardline views on freedom of the press to an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting last month, telling one of the organizations committees: Some powerful nations are misusing the media as a weapon to interfere in the internal affairs of small nations biased information with negative views to tarnish the image of the country internationally.
Observers say that is unlikely to happen as long as Kyaw Hsan comes up with truly comical statements like the one attributed to him by the regime-run media on Tuesday: A nation may fall under colonial rule because of the media.
The official order suspending publication of Burma’s partly government-owned weekly, The Myanmar Times, and the resignation under pressure of one of its reporters, Win Kyaw Oo, in a newsroom reorganization are the latest examples of how Minister of Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan is clumsily harassing the country’s media.
Since early 2006, Kyaw Hsan has been using his influence on a handful of editors and publishers in Burma to counter criticism of the country’s military regime by opposition and media groups in the West and exiles operating throughout the region.
While suppressing press freedom, Kyaw Hsan has opened wider opportunities for local journalists to get information and data from government officials.
While Kyaw Hsan was having second thoughts about the fee rise, The Myanmar Times went ahead and reported it.
Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan said 11 soldiers from the SSA-S's Brigade 241 led by Commander Sao Khun Kyaw, also known as Than Gyaung, surrendered before the rest of the brigade were captured by the Burmese army on January 1.
Kyaw Hsan said the militants were on their way to Sagaing Division in upper Burma with 50 ticals of raw opium, 200 stimulants, counterfeit 1000 Kyats notes and 15 forcibly recruited villagers.
Security Council, Kyaw Hsan said his government objects to putting Myanmar affairs on the council's agenda in the absence of any visible threat to regional and international peace and security.
YANGON Myanmar's junta is 'doing its best' to help those hit by Cyclone Nargis, which killed at least 22,000 people and left 41,000 missing in the army-ruled Southeast Asian nation, Information Minister Kyaw Hsan said on Tuesday.
The task is very wide and extensive and the government needs the cooperation of the people and well-wishers from at home and abroad,' Kyaw Hsan said in a news conference in the rubble-strewn former capital, Yangon, where food and water are running short.
Kyaw Hsan said a lack of electricity was hampering the restoration of the water supply in Yangon, but dozens of trucks were distributing water across the city of five million.
But Kyaw Hsan said “currently the tripartite meeting will not be possibleâ€, according to the New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Kyaw Hsan said Gambari’s previous visit “did not bear fruit as we had expected†and was followed by further international sanctions.
Brigadier General Kyaw Hsan met Gambari for more than two hours on Friday, as part of the envoy's effort to encourage the regime to include the pro-democracy opposition in its plans to hold a constitutional referendum in May and multiparty elections in 2010.
We are very astonished and dismayed for your involvement in this matter," Kyaw Hsan was quoted in the newspaper as saying.
Kyaw Hsan says enough has been done to talk to the opposition Myanmar has laid out its reasons for not reforming election plans, while accusing a UN envoy of bias towards the detained politician Aung San Suu Kyi.
Brigadier-General Kyaw Hsan met Gambari on Friday, reporting later that the military government had done enough to hold dialogue with Suu Kyi.
Kyaw Hsan said on state television: The constitution has already been drafted and it should not be amended again.
Brigadier General Hsan says the NLD has been invited to attend the National Convention, but he says the party and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, have been trying to destabilise the nation.
Kyaw Hsan said the guidelines would be adopted at the next session of the national convention - a body that forms the first stage of the government's seven-stage road map to democracy.
Information minister Kyaw Hsan said at a press conference in Yangon that the toll in Bogalay township in the Irrawaddy region was close to 10,000 while the toll on Haing Kyi Island was 975, on Mawlamyaing Island 1,835 and in Laputta township about 1,000.
Altogether, Kyaw Hsan said the government's latest estimate for the cyclone's victims - as of late Monday - was 14,911 with about 2,000 still listed as missing in the Irrawaddy region and about 500 in Yangon.
Kyaw Hsan said most citizens and monks abstained from the protests The protests had been triggered by a sudden hike in the price of fuel and other essentials, but quickly evolved into a broader anti-government movement.
Kyaw Hsan said if other bodies were allowed to review the constitutional principles, "it will be never-ending and the process will get further complicated.
But Kyaw Hsan said "currently the tripartite meeting will not be possible," the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.
Kyaw Hsan described as "no longer appropriate" suggestions that any new or outside body review the principles for a new constitution adopted in September by a National Convention, whose delegates were almost all hand-picked by the military.
Kyaw Hsan said if the review was opened up to other parties, "it will be never-ending and the process will get further complicated.
Myanmar Minister of Information Brigadier-General Kyaw Hsan has stressed that the government will continue the implementation of its seven-step roadmap as a transitional government in accord with the mandate of the people, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday.
Kyaw Hsan said the government will not tolerate any attempt to jeopardize or harm the constitution and the process.
Kyaw Hsan said Myanmar's seven-step roadmap has reached the fourth step of holding a national referendum on the completed constitution draft with a multi-party democratic general election to follow in 2010.
Kyaw Hsan said the junta will not accept any efforts to stall or derail the roadmap but will welcome "constructive participation" by the UN.
But Kyaw Hsan said "currently the tripartite meeting will not be possible," according to the New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Kyaw Hsan said Gambari's previous visit "did not bear fruit as we had expected" and was followed by further international sanctions.