Mizzima awarded global JTI certificate for reliable news on Myanmar

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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 ...
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ASEAN to assess developments in Myanmar after polls: Anwar

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ASEAN will assess developments in Myanmar following the first phase of elections and avoid actions that would “confer premature legitimacy” to any party, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Tuesday.

His comments came as Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party claimed an overwhelming victory in the first phase of the elections after democracy watchdogs warned the junta-run poll would only entrench military rule.

The armed forces snatched power in a 2021 coup that triggered civil war, but on Sunday, opened voting in a phased month-long election they pledged would return power to the people.

Anwar — whose country holds the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) until the end of the year  — said leaders from the 11-nation regional bloc which includes Myanmar would continue to “consider developments with care, including steps underway relating to the political process” in Myanmar.

“Any assessment will proceed in a sequenced manner, guided by the need to reduce violence, avoid actions that could deepen divisions or confer premature legitimacy, and preserve the possibility of an inclusive and credible pathway forward,” he told reporters.

Campaigners, Western diplomats and the United Nations’ rights chief condemned the vote, citing a crackdown on dissent and a candidate list stacked with military allies likely to prolong the armed forces’ rule.

Pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic minority armies opposing the military have pledged to block the election from the patchwork territories they have carved out in the war.

Official results have yet to be posted, but a senior official of the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) told AFP on Monday that they had won 82 of the 102 lower house seats contested on Sunday.

Two more phases of voting are scheduled for January 11 and 25.

At the last poll in 2020, the USDP was trounced by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, which was dissolved after the coup and did not appear on ballots in this election.

The Nobel laureate has been in detention since the putsch.

Many analysts describe the USDP as a military proxy set to entrench the power of the armed forces in civilian guise.

AFP

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