Tit bits of the regions media

The trial of U Thein Zan, a 65-year-old retired Burmese sailor who was arrested for satirising government newspapers in early March, was deferred to the end of the month by a court in Rangoon. Thein Zan, who makes his living repairing radios and tape recorders, had been moved to outrage on the morning of 23 February by the contradiction between the escalating prices of essential commodities on the market and the propaganda in the junta-run papers. These assured readers that economic and social conditions in Burma were indeed improving, and that those who opposed the state were just a small group of troublemakers. Thein Zan had then cut out a number of headlines from the government papers and pasted them on his fence, alongside bits of his own lampoonery. At 11 that morning, after the fence attracted the attention of more than 100 people, police arrived, removed the clippings, and took the artist to the local council office. A salute to U Thein Zan, who dared make an individual statement, completely unprotected, against a harsh and reactive state.

Meanwhile, on 12 March, Burmese journalist U Win Tin, imprisoned since 1989 on charges of anti-state activities, turned 77 in prison. Win Tin, the former editor-in-chief of the daily Hanthawati and a senior member of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, is one of the longest-serving detained journalists in the world. Currently being held in a cell designed for military dogs, Win Tin's poor health has been exacerbated by years of torture. Originally short-listed in July 2006 for early release, the ailing journalist, who has repeatedly refused to sign a statement that he will give up political activities upon his discharge, has been told that he is not entitled to such favours, as he has not yet fulfilled the requirement of hard labour.

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The staff at the People's Democracy might as well be given the golden handshake. Why should the Communist Party of India (Marxist) throw away precious resources on its official weekly organ, when it has The Hindu doing the job for it? Why should anyone visit the CPI (M)'s rather drab website for FAQs on Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal, when they can read editorials in The Hindu instead? Not content with infusing news reports, editorials and op-eds with apologies for Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's blunders over land acquisition for industry, the newspaper has even encroached upon its Letters to the Editor. A series of messages published – incidentally, from states thousands of kilometres from West Bengal – would have readers believe that public opinion is all but completely in favour of unethical land acquisition and police brutality. After more than a dozen people were killed in police firing in Nandigram on 14 March, The Hindu reported that, "Violence erupted as the mob hurled stones at the police," leading the police to open fire on the "violent crowd". Chhetria Patrakar also notices the virtual disappearance of the worthy Arundhati Roy and Medha Patkar from the pages of The Hindu – the one publication in which their demands for land-for-land rehabilitation in the Narmada Valley had been given extensive coverage. All that was well and good, but how dare they criticise the CPM?!

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Following almost four months in illegal detention, Mawbima journalist Munusamy Parameshawary was released on 22 March, after all charges against her were dropped. Sri Lankan and international press freedom organisa-tions launched a campaign for her release after Parameshawary, 23, was detained by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) on 24 November. Parameshawary's arrest followed her coverage of human rights violations in Sri Lanka's north and east, as well as disappearances in Colombo.

Yet the troubles of the Sinhala weekly Mawbima (officially labelled pro-LTTE soon after its launch in July 2006, for having exposed human-rights violations in the north and east, and for having revealed corruption in government departments) have by no means ended. In a letter to all ambassadors and heads of foreign missions in the country, Kuruwita Bandara, editor of Mawbima and Hana Ibrahim, editor of the weekly English-language Sunday Standard, wrote: "On March 13, the accounts of the Standard Newspapers Private Ltd were sealed. This will effectively force both the Mawbima and the Sunday Standard to stop publishing in the near future. In Sri Lanka's long and troubled history there has never been such a frontal attack of such intensity on a mainstream mass circulation newspaper. Actions taken by you at this moment will play a critical role in helping us carry out our role as disseminators of free expression in this country."

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No matter that on 8 March, International Women's Day, women MPs in both houses of India's Parliament could get no more than the customary, insipid 'assurances' with regards to the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill, pending now for over a decade. Just one glance at the picture accompanying the article in The Hindu (right to left: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, actor Preity Zinta, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur, all looking rather victorious) and women's-rights activists should know that the future of gender equity in India is in safe hands. Don't be picky, sisters!

State governments across India did not miss the opportunity to mark the day either, releasing scores of ads in national dailies in promotion of various programmes. The Laadli Laxmi scheme for girls' education was one ("for the common man's [sic] daughter"); another was the Godh Bharai project for the complete care of pregnant women, who were going to be gifted sindoor, bangles and bindis (along with iron tablets, one presumes). Whatever happened to the Muslim, Sikh and Christian Indian woman?

And then there was T F Thekkekara, managing director and the State Women Development Corporation of Maharashtra, urging in an Indian Express op-ed that parents of a girl should be issued a tamper-proof 'Gold Card' that would make them eligible not only for tax deductions and extra kerosene rations, but also for 50 percent of allotments of petrol pumps, gas agencies, ration shops, industrial plots, housing plots, telephone and gas connections, and licences for autorickshaws, taxis, bus services and other transport vehicles. Whoa!

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While we're at it, we have to admit that other Indian newspapers devoted their column inches to the real issues: companies expressing their appreciation of women on their special day. The Life Insurance Corporation of India presented its exclusive new policy for women ("you always cared for others, now a policy that cares for you"). Nokia, celebrating the spirit of today's woman, showcased its new models of phones (Nokia 6300 – slim yet powerful, Nokia E65 – many more reasons to show it off). Now, now, women, stop whining about the triple burden.

The Times of India told us that Kalpana Sarees was offering hefty discounts to women who "dared to bare their age". Walk in with an age certificate, and walk out with a discount adding up to the sum of your birth date. "God is a man" revealed Whirlpool appliances, while women were "God's angels on earth", who do his job for him: listen, understand and make the world a better place. Of course, we concede that if god owned Whirlpool washing machines, fridges, microwave ovens and dishwashers, his job would have been much easier.

And just in case you missed all the action in print, you could have gone online and sent a free e-card wishing someone a "wonderful women's day", courtesy the Grameen Foundation. Thank you, Yunus Dada!

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This March, The Bhutan Reporter, a monthly newspaper brought out by Bhutani journalists living in the refugee camps of southern Nepal, closed down due to lack of funds. Since the newspaper began publication in 2004, it had been a source of respite to the 100,000-strong refugee community, the vast majority of which is restricted to the camps in Jhapa and Morang districts and has no means of livelihood or of getting an education past high school. The paper had a monthly print run of 1000, and had been running on the basis of voluntary work and funds raised in the camps.

The last issue of the Reporter, published in February, contained, among other things, a celebration of the revision of the Bhutan-India Friendship Treaty of 1949, several accounts of arrests of Bhutani exiles in Bhutan, a report of a fight between refugees and the Nepali police in the Goldhap camp, pictures of high-scoring refugee students, and a small box item that demanded the return of the Duars to Bhutan from India.

This might be the time also to remember the remarkable Bhutan Review, a sophisticated tabloid published only during the first half of the 1990s, which exposed all the misstatements emerging from Thimpu at the time on the refugee issue.

– Chhetria Patrakar