Five Days in Burma

People would come up to me and suddenly start talking about the political situation in the country. When I asked one restaurant owner who approached me what she thought of the recent reforms, she answered bluntly in English: “It's all just for show.”

My next meeting that day was with senior writers and editors. As I sat down, I could feel their anger toward press censorship board officials. The mood only got worse after a few whiskeys. When I asked some of them if I should try to set up a publication inside Burma, they warned me that it would involve entering into an “unholy alliance” with the authorities. I recalled something a censorship official had already told me: If we wanted to work in Burma, we would have to go through the censorship board.

Other members of the exiled media who have visited Burma since the government started relaxing press controls last year have come away with the same impression that I got during my trip: They say the government wants to present itself as more press-friendly, but in reality, it still isn't ready to allow us to operate freely inside Burma. In one form or another, restrictions will remain.

Another problem we would face in returning to Burma is the fact that the media there is already dominated by relatives and cronies of senior military officials. Although most are apologists for the military-dominated government, many are also opportunists, eager to use photos of Aung San Suu Kyi to boost circulation. In short, they are completely unprincipled, and see the media as just another way to make money. As Dr Phone Win, the founder of the NGO Mingalar Myanmar, warned me, we would be swallowed up in seconds if we tried to enter this market unprepared.

My misgivings about working inside Burma were also reinforced by a casual remark made by a retired senior intelligence officer I happened to meet on that first day. “Can't you tone it down? If you want to come back again, you have to be less critical,” he said in a friendly voice. It was a message that made my first night's sleep in Burma an uneasy one.

Early the next morning, I received an urgent message: “Come to Naypyidaw as soon as possible.” We quickly jumped into a van and sped off. The road to the new capital was empty and wavy—after a few hours drive, we stopped at a rest area where we had a wonderful lunch.

After a few more hours in the van, we finally saw the “Welcome to Nay Pyi Taw” sign. It was a welcome sight, as it was already 3:30 pm and we were worried that we would be late. As we entered the city, I recalled how many stories I had written about the many secrets surrounding Burma's new capital. The biggest mystery—apart from the reason for creating it in the first place—was how many billions of dollars had been spent on this monument to military supremacy.

After a brief handshake with Information Minister Kyaw Hsan, who was leaving the ministry's compound as I arrived, I went straight to the office of Ye Htut, the director general of the ministry.

The former colonel was a well-read man who had written several articles and published a few books, including a translation of “Decision Points,” the autobiography of former US President George W Bush. We spoke for a few hours, and I was impressed by his candidness, even if I wasn't convinced that the government wasn't about to usher in a new era of media freedom. As I left the building, I met other officials, including a deputy minister who sounded like he was an avid reader of The Irrawaddy.

That evening, I met the director of the president's office Zaw Htay. Over dinner, we discussed various issues related to Burma, including its role in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, China's influence, US sanctions, ethnic conflict and Aung San Suu Kyi. We didn't agree on many issues, but that wasn't our purpose anyway. I just wanted to offer my perspective as a journalist, and felt that the exchange of views was worthwhile.

At 4 o'clock the next morning we left Naypyidaw for the long trip back to Rangoon, where we were scheduled to meet Aung San Suu Kyi at noon. The beauty of the dawn landscape as we drove through central Burma made it impossible for me to return to sleep.

When we reached the headquarters of the National League for Democracy (NLD), we had to wade through a large crowd to get inside to see the party's famous leader. During our brief meeting—which had to be kept short to fit into Suu Kyi's busy campaign schedule—she explained that the party had decided to join this year's by-elections despite boycotting the vote in 2010 because the political situation in Burma is changing everyday. We also spoke about the international reaction to recent changes.