On August 20, 2011, pre-publication censorship, dubbed as “press kempeitai” in reference to wartime Japan’s secret police, was abolished in Myanmar, ending the decades-long requirement for journalists to submit articles to the censorship board before going to print.
The press was shackled for nearly five decades by the Printers and Publishers Registration Act which was promulgated in 1962 by the first military dictator General Ne Win after he seized power from the elected government in a coup.
Subsequent regimes also kept a tight grip on the press, with the censor board rejecting articles and sometimes ripping up submissions, jailing writers and journalists and permanently barring authors from writing.
The draconian censorship was abolished under ex-general Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government, but not in the interests of press freedom. The transitional administration made the move as it sought international recognition as a democratically elected government and to legitimize the military-drafted 2008 Constitution, which was designed to prolong military dominance.
Press freedom returned but it was not perfect. Private newspapers emerged for the first time in decades and banned political books reappeared on shelves. But it did not last for long.
After military chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power in the 2021 coup, his regime imposed a crackdown on the press, revoking media licenses and jailing journalists. It has also targeted printing and publishing houses.
