CULTURE

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The democratic period (1948-62) was a golden age for writing and publishing in Burma.

 

Since the 1962 coup that brought the Burmese Socialist Program Party, or BSPP, to power (it ruled until 1988), Burma has been subject to onerous censorship on all books, novels, periodicals and music. This is carried out by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, which comes under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The division is commonly referred to as the censorship board.

 

Despite the restrictions imposed by the government, the influence of the “people’s literature movement” has continued through to the present day.

 

Ironically, the strict censorship regime makes the national literary tour more inviting for participants. “At the outdoor literature ceremonies we have an opportunity to talk about issues that we can’t write about,” says Nu Nu Yi. A regular attendee of literary events, student activist Zin Maung, agrees: “The writers’ speeches reflect socio-economic and political questions.”

 

One of the most popular speakers on the literary tour during the 1980s was satirist Ba Thaw, better known as Maung Thaw Ka. At public engagements he was known for his biting wit. General Secretary of the National League for Democracy, or NLD, Aung San Suu Kyi wrote an article celebrating him once: “On being told that a fellow writer believed in ghosts, Hsaya [teacher] Maung Thaw Ka riposted: ‘He believes in anything, he even believes in the Burmese Socialist Program Party.’”

 

Maung Thaw Ka was active in the 1988 mass popular uprising against the government. On September 18, 1988 the Burma Army bloodily suppressed the mostly peaceful protest, killing at least 1,000 civilians. Maung Thaw Ka was a founding central executive committee member of the NLD. In 1989 he was arrested, then in October convicted by a military tribunal of trying to foment a mutiny in the Burma Army and sentenced to 20 years’ hard labor. In 1991 he died in prison.

 

Another founding NLD member, the renowned poet Tin Moe, was jailed for three years. After his release, the government banned his works and prohibited him from public speaking. Tin Moe went into exile.

 

In military-controlled Burma, things have gone from bad to worse. The National Literary Awards have increasingly been handed out to serving and retired military officers and other apologists for the regime. The government refuses to issue permits for public gatherings for some literary events, so forcing cancellation. In some places, the authorities want to be involved in selecting the writers to be invited, and to censor their speeches.