Eyewitness of poor management for Asean Summit
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Nay Tun Naing, a reporter of Eleven Media, gives his personal account on what happened on the first three days of the 25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit. He has been covering 11 different summits since 2009.
The effort of the Myanmar authorities to suppress journalistic work during the Asean Summit in Nay Pyi Taw is plain to see.
Journalists are confined inside the media centres. Aside from blocking on access to information to related meetings during November 9-11, a shocking feature of this summit includes the temporary media toilet and media bus stop. They are similar tothe roadside telephone stands built near bus stops when the government started building Nay Pyi Taw, which was used by nobody.
Journalists are notified when they are allowed to take photos and can only enter the building at that time. They are not allowed to ask questions to the representatives along the pathway near the meeting hall.
In my experience, there has been no country that restricted media access to information during an Asean Summit so as heavily as Myanmar currently is. At the very least, journalists have previously always been allowed to take photos and ask questions to the delegates.
Private media were not allowed access to information from these meetings taking on November 9. On November 10, when the meetings of high-ranking officers were held, neither foreign nor local private media were permitted to carry out independent reporting. Reporters were not even allowed to take photos or approach the meeting rooms.
Journalists are allowed to cover the meetings only on November 12 and 13.
If journalists want news, they can only use the information released by the Information Committee.
According to the authorities, the reasons for the media restrictions are due to lack of space to accommodate the numerous media and journalists and the attendance of US President Barack Obama and top South Asian leaders, and to protect against terrorists.
Some of the journalists present have witnessed foreigners instructing local authorities. It is clear that these unusual restrictions are connected to their presence.
Worse, the information released by the Information Committee is scant - with plain information on what time a meeting started, when it ended, who attended the meeting, and the topics covered in the meeting.
The unusually tight security is typical for misunderstandings to rise between the security-in-charge, information-in-charge, and organisers. However, the way the media have been handled here seems to indicate mismanagement.
In 2009, an issue arose during the 18th Asean Summit held in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Media Centre was placed outside the meeting hall, and live entertainment was provided for the media, but press freedom was limited, causing dissatisfaction among the journalists.
The Indonesian newspapers reported on the treatment of the media the following day. The Indonesian Information Minister immediately came to the Media Centre and apologised to the journalists. Another media centre was set up inside the meeting hall, and restriction on press freedom was relaxed.
I have experienced varying levels of media restriction during the Asean summits held in Vietnam, Cambodia and Brunei. Based on my experience, the media repression taking place at the 25th Asean Summit currently taking place in Nay Pyi Taw is the worst.
