The Office of Strategic Studies of the Ministry of Defence

[Ed. Note: In the book The Truth, the Burmese government refutes various allegations that have been made against it over the years. The logic of the argument presented indicates the view of reality of the Burmese government.]

Allegations

Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) in its annual report for the year 2000 alleged that Myanmar [Burma] is the only country in the world with the largest number of news correspondents in prison.

Facts

The allegations in the report may have very well been due to ignorance of the real situation in Myanmar, or it could also be a deliberate and malicious attempt to create misunderstanding and thus belittle the country in the eyes of the world. The persons listed as news correspondents in prison are actually not news correspondents by profession. Some of them had been employees in newspaper houses, and a few others may have been at one time authors of novels and articles. Any intelligent person knows the difference between authors of books and news correspondents. Thus, to lump [bold italics in original] all these people together as news correspondents is a despicable attempt to support their unfounded accusations. Moreover, those serving sentences in prison have not been punished for transmitting news as correspondents but because they have violated existing laws. These are regulations for the censorship of false news intended to subvert and destablise the country, but there is no attempt to control or censor or suppress authentic news. There is a Foreign Correspondent's Club in Myanmar with correspondents employed by foreign news agencies as members. It can easily be verified whether the government or organisations related to the government have at any time tried to control or take any interceptive actions against the transmission of news by these correspondents of foreign news agencies.