News Briefs (February 2006)

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Burmese Media Ignores Regional Unrest

Burma’s state-owned media organizations are shying away from covering current political uprisings in neighboring countries such as Thailand and the Philippines. The weekly anti-government rallies that have been attracting tens of thousands of protesters in Bangkok, and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s decision on Friday to dissolve parliament, have barely been mentioned in Burma’s newspapers, or on television and radio broadcasts. In addition, Burma’s media has also ignored the “people power” uprising in the Philippines, as well as the recent arrest of members of the country’s armed forces, who stand accused of plotting a coup to unseat President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Natural disasters in the region such as the Philippines mudslide in mid-February are being reported however, and there are constant updates on American casualties in the war in Iraq.

Rangoon Commodity Prices Rise

Rangoon residents are being hit by severe increases in commodity prices over the past two months. The price rises are blamed on spiraling oil prices.

For instance, a Rangoon housewife complains, a sack of low-quality rice has increased from 1,500 kyat (US $1.50) to 5,000 kyat, and the price of good quality rice has doubled from 10,000 kyat per sack to 20,000 kyat. Beef has risen from 1,000 kyat for one viss (1.6 kg) to 3,000 kyat over the same period.

Meanwhile, a gallon of petrol has soared from 160 kyat to 1,500 kyat in the same period.

Hilltribe Education Hits the North

Thailand’s Non-Formal Education Department is to launch new courses for the minority hilltribe populations in Mae Hong Son province, where an estimated 50,000 people are believed to be illiterate.