Mizzima awarded global JTI certificate for reliable news on Myanmar

-
Image
Mizzima Mizzima, one of Myanmar ’s most prominent news outlets and a press freedom advocate, obtained the Journalism Trust Initiative ( JTI ) certification from global audit firm Bureau Veritas , JTI says in a press statement 5 January.  Operating in clandestine mode within Myanmar and supported by an exiled team, Mizzima strives to fulfil its role as reliable source of news and information for the Myanmar public. “Your Journalism Trust Initiative certification affirms what audiences already know: that principled, transparent journalism matters. Congratulations on this achievement and on your continued contribution to informing citizens about Myanmar,” says Benjamin Sabbah , director of Journalism Trust Initiative “Myanmar’s ongoing conflict has created an intensely contested media landscape, where mis- and disinformation are increasingly deployed to reinforce state propaganda and the prevailing “official” narrative. Although Mizzima is already regarded as one of the most trusted ...
Post a Comment

Chin party urges election of ethnic Vice Presidents

-
Friday, 21 January 2011 13:22 Tun Tun

New Delhi (Mizzima) – The Chin National Party (CNP) has urged members of Parliament to elect and appoint ethnic party members to the posts of vice-chairman and chief ministers of regions and states.

The CNP referred to a joint statement issued on January 16 along with the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), the All Mon Region Democracy Party (AMRDP) and the Phalon-Sawaw Democratic Party, which appealed to elect ethnic members to high posts in the new government.

‘We released this statement to draw attention to what our ethnic people want to see in the newly formed government. Since this is a multi-party democratic system, it will not be good for the country’s future if the winning party takes all’, CNP party chairman Zo Sam told Mizzima.

‘We have had many bitter experiences and a lot of resentment in the past, and we must make sure that these type of experiences don’t resurface in Burmese politics’, he said.

‘Mutual trust and understanding was first built on the Panglong Agreement which demanded independence from the British colonial masters simultaneously. It would be unfair to exclude ethnic people in the affairs of the entire Union’, SNDP spokesman Sai Saung Si told Mizzima.

The statement also appealed to elected MPs to appoint and elect ethnic members to the posts of speakers and deputy speakers of the state assemblies and in ministerial posts in local governments.

According to the 2008 Constitution, the House of People, (lower house) and the House of Nationalities (upper house) and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces will pick three vice president nominees. Then MPs will elect a president from among the three nominees and the remaining two will automatically become vice presidents.

The president will appoint the chief minister posts in local governments with the approval of the local assemblies. However, the speaker and deputy speaker of each local assembly will be elected directly by representatives of the assemblies.

According to the Constitution, during an emergency period the governing body would be the National Defence and Security Council comprised of the president, two vice presidents, the speakers of both houses, the commander-in-chief, the vice commander-in-chief and the ministers of defence, foreign affairs and home and border affairs.

If ethnic MPs were elected as vice presidents, they would automatically be included in the powerful council.

‘After president, the vice presidents will be the most powerful persons in this republic system. So this will reflect the image of our ethnic people. The degree of importance of these posts will depend on their executive power’, said spokesman Sai Saung Si.

Five ethnic parties won a total of 34 seats in House of the People and 19 seats in the House of Nationalities in the Parliament.

Out of total of 440 MPs in the House of the People, or lower house, 110 reserved seats will be filled by MPs appointed by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and the rest of the members, 330, will be elected MPs. Out of a total of 224 seats in the House of Nationalities, or upper house, 56 reserved seats will be appointed by the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

The junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) won 59 percent of the elected seats in the House of the People and 57 percent in the House of Nationalities, giving it majority control of both houses.

The military regime announced all three legislatures of the lower house, upper house and local assemblies would be convened simultaneously on January 31 at 8:55 a.m.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

World's longest internet shutdown ends in parts of Myanmar

-
Image
Rakhine people travel by motorcycle in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Western Myanmar, 02 February 2021. Photo: Nyunt Win/EPA By AFP The world's longest internet shutdown -- affecting more than a million people for 19 months in one of Myanmar's ethnic conflict zones -- has come to an end, according to a mobile operator based in the region. The internet in parts of Myanmar's troubled northern states of Rakhine and Chin was suspended in June 2019 following "emergency" orders issued by the telecoms department under Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government. Following Monday's military coup, mobile operator Telenor Group confirmed it had reinstated full services in eight townships in Rakhine and Chin states on Wednesday. "Telenor Group and Telenor Myanmar have been advocating for the restoration of services and emphasised that freedom of expression through access to telecoms services should be maintained for humanitarian purposes," the company said in a stateme...
Read more

First ministerial meeting held

-
Image
Mizzima Myanmar held the first meeting among newly appointed ministers after a recent major cabinet reshuffle by the military in capital city of Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday morning, according to a release from the Military True News Information Team Xinhua reported. The Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, acting President U Myint Swe and nine newly appointed union ministers were present at the meeting held at the Presidential Palace, the release said. Min Aung Hlaing unveiled plans to include reopening religious buildings and pagodas, resuming domestic travel and hotel businesses as well as industries in line with COVID-19 rules and regulations, and revitalizing the country's economy.
Read more

Indonesia detains British woman on terror suspect list

-
Image
File photo of Indonesian police personnel standing guard. (Photo: AFP) AFP Indonesia has detained a British woman named on a list of global terror suspects and plans to deport her for visa violations, authorities told AFP Tuesday. Tazneen Miriam Sailar -- a Manchester-born convert to Islam married to an Indonesian jihadist who was killed in Syria -- is not charged with terror offences. But she and her late husband are on an Indonesian police list of suspected extremists that includes several foreigners notorious in the West. Sailar, 47, and her 10-year-old Indonesia-born son, were being held in Jakarta after being picked up last year without documents allowing her to remain in the Southeast Asian nation, her lawyer Farid Ghozali said. "She was put (in detention) while awaiting her return, which will be facilitated by the British embassy," Indonesian immigration directorate spokesman Ahmad Nursaleh told AFP. The embassy declined to comment, and it was unclear when...
Read more