Social media satire under fire ahead of Myanmar elections
Play
Yangon (dpa) - Myanmar authorities are clamping down on social media postings criticising or mocking the state, using wide-reaching legislation condemned by international rights groups, and ahead of national elections on November 8.
"We already warned that we would charge anyone who breaks the existing Electronic Transaction Act, especially during the election period to keep the situation stable," said Tint Swe, permanent secretary of the Information Ministry.
"People must obey all the existing laws whether you like it or not," he said.
The 2004 act prohibits any electronic communications considered "detrimental to the security of the State or prevalence of law and order or community peace and tranquillity or national solidarity or national economy or national culture."
Opposition member Chaw Sandi Tun, 25, was arrested on Monday and charged under the act.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) member had posted a picture of two senior military officers next to another one of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, comparing the new mint-green uniforms with her same-coloured traditional sarong wrap.
The caption read: "If you love Mother Suu so much, why don't you wrap her sarong around your head?"
Khun Ja Lee, 43, was arrested on Wednesday after sharing online someone else's picture showing a person standing with their feet on a photo of military chief Min Aung Hlaing.
His wife May Sabe Phyu, a peace and gender equality activist, told dpa that her husband had done nothing wrong.
"Why don't they take action against people who have been posting more serious insults on social media?" May Sabe Phyu said.
Another NLD member, poet Ko Saung Kha, went into hiding this week after hearing he was wanted for questioning for posting a satirical poem about President Thein Sein online, local news reports said.
According to a survey in March, there are 3.4 million active social media users in Myanmar. "If the authorities want to use the Electronic Transaction Act again, they also have to take action against people whose posts insult the opposition," attorney Robert San Aung told dpa over Facebook's messenger service.
The act has been used to jail many political activists and student leaders since 2004.
"It should not exist anymore," San Aung said.
