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MPs insert freedom of expression clause into media bill
SOE THAN LYNN soethanlynn @ gmail. com SANDAR LWIN sdlsandar @ gmail. com
THE Pyithu Hluttaw last week approved the Ministry of Information’ s Printing and Publishing Enterprise Bill but made 24 amendments, including the addition of a clause that would protect“ people’ s free expression”.
The bill, submitted earlier this year, was approved on July 4 and will now go to the Amyotha Hluttaw, or upper house, for consideration. However, the parliament is also expected to consider a rival print media bill drafted by the Interim Press Council during the seventh session, and it is unclear how the two print media bills will be reconciled into a single piece of legislation.
During the debate on July 4, 10 amendments were proposed by the Pyithu Hluttaw Bill Committee and five by the Pyithu Hluttaw Sports, Culture and Public Relations Committee, while representatives U Aye Myint of Insein, U Thein Nyunt of Thingangyun, U Kyaw Naing Htay on Indaw and U Nyan Win of Hlaing Tharyar also submitted changes.
U Nyan Win called for freedom of expression and publication to be enshrined in the law, a proposal that was approved by lower house lawmakers.
“ I’ d like to add the words,‘ The action shall be without prejudice to the people’ s free expression and publication rights,’ in section 24 of chapter eight because I don’ t want people’ s free expression and publication rights affected due to the prohibitions of this law,” he said.
U Kyaw Naing Htay and U Thein Nyunt proposed similar changes to section 24 but on the recommendation of the bill committee retracted their proposals in favour of U Nyan Win’ s amendment.
Three of the committee’ s amendments removed jail terms for those who could not pay fines handed down under sections 20, 21 and 22 of chapter five.
U Khine Maung Yi, the Pyithu Hluttaw representative for Ahlone and secretary of the Pyithu Hluttaw Sports, Culture and Public Relations Committee, said that both the ministry’ s draft Public Service Media Law and the print media law written by the press council are in the hands of the committee.“ We expect to submit them to the hluttaw this session,” he said.
However, a Ministry of Information official said the version with the committee is likely to be amended before it is considered by MPs.
Deputy director general Daw Thidar Tin said the ministry has already amended about 25 percent of the press council’ s draft that was submitted to the Pyithu Hluttaw Sports, Culture and Public Relations Committee and forwarded it to the Attorney General’ s Office.
“ We agreed with about 50 points in the press council’ s draft and made some amendments to 17 points and sent it to the Attorney General’ s Office, which is a necessary step before it is submitted to parliament,” she said on July 4, adding that it could be“ several weeks” before it is ready to be put to parliament.
The ministry made the changes about one week after the press council sent its original draft to the committee.
“ We sent our original draft... on June 26. We have already said that we will follow the parliament’ s decision,” council secretary U Kyaw Min Swe said.
“ So far no parliamentarian has said they will submit the draft to the parliament on our behalf. What is most important is to convey the ideas included in our draft to the parliamentarians,” U Kyaw Min Swe said. – Translated by Thiri Min Htun
A taxi driver waits in line at a compressed natural gas station in Yangon. Photo: Aung Htay Hlaing
Ministry’ s call for feedback on CNG price fuels rumours of impending rise
AYE NYEIN WIN ayenyeinwin. mcm @ gmail. com
A MINISTRY of Energy spokesperson says rumours and reports of a possible change in the price of compressed natural gas, which is set by the ministry, could prove to be true.
“ Nothing has been changed but we don’ t know how it will be changed in future,” said U Ko Lay, from Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise’ s CNG Department.
The rumours were fuelled by a June 24 report in the staterun Kyemon( Mirror) newspaper that stated CNG prices would be raised but did not give the new price. The report also advised people to write a letter to the ministry stating whether they believed pricing should be changed and also asked people to state whether they thought gasoline and diesel prices needed to be increased.
The story sparked an immediate response from worried cab drivers, who fear that they will no longer be able to make money if prices rise.
“ I heard that the CNG price would double,” said taxi driver Ko Min Wai.“ There are already a lot of taxis on the road and we struggle to cover our costs. If the CNG price doubles, we will find it hard to keep going.
“ There are not many CNG filling stations, unlike gasoline and diesel stations. And it’ s hard to find a shop that will fill the tank fully,” he said.“ If the price increases, it would be better if we could at least fill up every time because otherwise we have to waste our time.”
Bus owner Ko Latt said that when the electricity was cut during filling, the stations used generators to power the pumps. However, in those conditions the pumps did not work to full power and could not always fill tanks. Ko Latt added that vehicles with large tanks also depleted the pressure of the pumps, meaning vehicles that came afterward were denied enough pressure to fill their tanks.
“ I heard the CNG price will increase, but I have not seen any official announcement,” he said.
“ Some people say the CNG price will increase to K900 for 1 kilogram, up from K273. But I heard that vehicles used for public transport will not be included in the increase. If that’ s not the case and we have to pay more, then bus fares will increase too.”
‘ The ministry has to sell CNG at an appropriate price but we don’ t know what that will be.’
U Ko Lay Ministry of Energy official
He suggested that the Mirror’ s story might have been an attempt by the ministry to gauge public opinion to a possible increase.
“ If people accept this, they [ the ministry ] will carry it out, but if people complain about a possible increase, maybe it will not happen.”
By July 4, the CNG price was unchanged at about K273 a kilogram.
U Ko Lay said the ministry has already accepted letters from the public as a result of the Kyemon article but would not say whether the majority advocated a price rise.
“ The ministry has to sell CNG at an appropriate price but we don’ t know what that will be,” he added.
“ It is hard to say what the exact CNG price is,” said taxi driver Ko Min Min.“ It’ s supposed to cost K273 for 1kg but we always pay K300. If prices are increased, then the owners must compromise on daily fees.”
CNG-fuelled taxis are much cheaper to run than gasolineor diesel-fuelled vehicles but owners also charge more to rent them by the day – about K15,000 compared to K10,000 for a diesel or gasoline car.
The Mirror reported that there are more than 27,450 CNG-fuelled vehicles in Myanmar and 45 CNG filling stations.