Power Cuts For All (Except VIPs); World’s 2nd Largest Jailer of Journos Complains of Censorship; and More

The newest proof of great energy outages in military-ruled Myanmar got here on Wednesday when the junta’s Yangon regional authorities invited tenders to produce a 250 kVA cellular uninterrupted energy provide (UPS) system and a 50 kVA sound-proof generator to make sure electrical energy at VIP occasions.

The tender is an admission that the regime can’t provide dependable electrical energy even for its personal occasions, by no means thoughts the overall inhabitants and personal sector.

Yangon’s regional authorities doesn’t appear to be too bothered by its incapacity to produce the industrial capital, however is seemingly involved that generals will probably be aggravated if the lights exit throughout their occasions.

That lack of concern over the worsening electrical energy disaster because the putsch is matched by the junta’s Ministry of Electrical energy and Power. The ministry additionally sourced a 500 kVA diesel generator to supply 24-hour electrical energy within the regime’s fortified citadel of Naypyitaw, dwelling to Min Aung Hlaing in addition to lively and retired generals.

Bleating over Fb, YouTube bans

“Our media is being bullied,” lamented junta-appointed data minister Maung Maung Ohn throughout a TV interview on the 18th Asia Media Summit in Indonesia within the final week of Could.

Fb has banned state broadcaster Myanma Radio and Tv (MRTV) for hate speech and misinformation (although the social media platform, which is just about synonymous with the web in Myanmar, nonetheless permits different regime-friendly pages to publish false and fabricated information).

Nonetheless, whereas complaining loudly about ‘media censorship’, the minister uncared for to say that his junta has arrested greater than 100 journalists because the coup, 40 of whom stay in detention. He additionally did not say that the regime has closed down a minimum of 10 media retailers. The nation ranks a lowly 173 out of 180 international locations on the RSF press freedom index and is the world’s second-biggest jailer of journalists.

Final yr, the EU-sanctioned data minister proposed organising a Myanmar model of YouTube – which has additionally barred official junta retailers. He stated the platform, which he dubbed MTube, was essential to counter false information and misinformation revealed by overseas and “unethical” media retailers. The native video-sharing and livestreaming platform was duly launched, however its uploaded propaganda clips are receiving only some views.

Maung Maung Ohn has much more motive to be livid. In Could final yr, Min Aung Hlaing turned up in particular person to launch the app-based model of its propaganda channel, MRTV. It should have stung when the app was banned from Apple’s App Retailer and Google Play the following day.

Indian steerage on faking information

Amid rising ties between the junta and India, the president of the New Delhi-based Overseas Correspondents’ Membership of South Asia visited Naypyitaw on June 7 to debate media cooperation with regime ministers.

Shirumalla Venkat Narayan met junta data minister Maung Maung Ohn for talks on bettering regime mouthpiece The World New Mild of Myanmar, in addition to masking border commerce information, and sending trainee journalists to check at media institutes in India.

Narayan additionally met commerce minister Aung Naing Oo to debate financial cooperation between Myanmar and India’s northeastern states and enhancing people-to-people interplay between the 2 international locations.

He referred to as on worldwide cooperation minister Ko Ko Hlaing to debate the junta’s “efforts for peace and stability” and bilateral cooperation in commerce and funding, connectivity and media. And with deputy overseas affairs minister Kyaw Myo Htut he mentioned collaboration for media sector improvement, disseminating information concerning the “true scenario of Myanmar” to the worldwide neighborhood, and enhancing the capability of state-owned media.

Determined gamble as tax income shrinks

The navy regime launched a web based lottery on Thursday because it scrambles for brand new income streams to offset a hunch in tax collections.

The web raffle was launched in partnership with telecom operator Mytel, a three way partnership between the protection ministries of Myanmar and Vietnam.

Because the coup in 2021, a lot of the populace has refused to make funds of any type to the regime, together with utility payments and taxes. They’ve additionally boycotted military-linked merchandise together with Aung Bar Lay lottery tickets, which has compelled the regime to scale back the quantity and measurement of jackpots.

The brand new on-line system goals to make shopping for lottery tickets simpler, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing informed attendees on the launch ceremony. However he admitted that he hoped the net lottery “will enhance state revenues.”

Below the now ousted civilian authorities, lottery distributors promoting Aung Bar Lay tickets in vehicles, on bikes, and on foot have been a standard sight throughout city and rural areas of the nation. Min Aung Hlaing apparently desires to check the response of Myanmar individuals whose mass boycott has seen these retailers vanish because the putsch.

On-line lotteries usually are not new to individuals in Myanmar; the civilian Nationwide Unity Authorities launched one in August 2021 to lift funds for the revolution.