Govt and army not behind religious strife: Ye Htut

“The government is striving for democratisation of the country. It’s trying to transform the Myanmar society into a democratic one. It will never backtrack on the path. It will just go ahead. However, when such problems [that is, religious conflicts in the country] occur, it is said this one is behind and that one is behind. What is sure is that the government and the army have no reason to create those conflicts,” said Ye Htut, who is also the deputy minister for information.

He said the government has now formed an emergency central committee to handle the religious conflicts and to identify the persons behind by carrying out investigations.

“Instead of talking guesses, the people and the media are encouraged to tell the central committee if they have concrete information. I am also a committee member,” Ye Htut said.

There are widespread rumours on social network sites that incite hatred among the people. This leads to the emotional responses among the people even to a small conflict, and sometimes their responses go beyond the laws, Ye Htut noted.

He also said the Myanmar government’s banning of Time Magazine’s July issue is because of the peoples’ response in social media and exaggerated reports in the local media.

Ye Htut urged the media to write news reports about the religious conflicts based on the facts, rather than inflaming emotions.