Burma’s censors are now also code-breakers

Saw Yan Naing : Burma’s censorship authorities have found new tools to monitor submitted written manuscripts before approval—mirrors and magnifying glasses.

Rangoon-based writers told The Irrawaddy that censors working in the Press Scrutiny and Registration Board office are now equipped with mirrors and magnifying glasses to help them seek out hidden messages in poems, novels, stories and advertisements.

Illegal Rambo VCDs circulating Rangoon

Nay Thwin : Despite the Burmese government’s effort to ban the recently released Hollywood film Rambo, local esidents in Rangoon say a downloaded version of the movie is making its way among a circle of friends. While cinema halls cannot show the movie, which takes as its storyline Burma’s current political crisis, and video rental shops in Rangoon are not to posses copies, a downloaded version from the Internet is making its rounds, said a local resident, who wished not to be named.

Calls to reform exiled government grow

Wai Moe : Debate over the need for Burma’s government-in-exile to reform has become louder, as elected leaders living in exile prepare to meet for a conference of the Members of Parliament Union (MPU), scheduled to be held soon on the Thai-Burma border.
San Aung, of the Washington-based National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), told The Irrawaddy that some exiled politicians want the exiled government to reform, and especially to include more ethnic leaders.