TODAY’S HEADLINES: Myanmar court jails Suu Kyi, Australian economist for 3 years
In this file photo taken on July 17, 2019, Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi attends the opening ceremony of the Yangon Innovation Centre in Yangon. Detained Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on May 24, 2021 voiced defiance in her first public comments since being held in a coup, vowing her ousted political party would (AFP/STR)
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A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Thursday jailed deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her former economic adviser, Australian Sean Turnell, for three years for violating a secrets law, a source familiar with the proceedings said.
Turnell was also found guilty of violating an immigration law, and was ordered to concurrently serve another three-year sentence, according to a second source and media.
A former British envoy, an American journalist, and a Japanese filmmaker have also faced charges under the same law.
Both Suu Kyi and Turnell had pleaded not guilty to the charges they faced, which carry a maximum sentence of 14 years.
“Three years each, no hard labour,” said the source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Suu Kyi, Turnell, and several members of her economic team are among thousands arrested since the military overthrew her elected government in a coup early last year, including politicians, lawmakers, bureaucrats, students and journalists.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has already been sentenced to at least 23 years in prison in separate cases, mostly related to corruption charges.
She denies all accusations against her.
Opponents of the military say the charges against Suu Kyi are aimed at blocking her from ever getting involved in politics again and challenging the military’s grip on power.
A junta spokesperson did not answer calls seeking comment on Thursday.
The junta insists Myanmar’s courts are independent and those arrested are receiving due process.
Turnell, who is also a professor of economics at Macquarie University in Australia, has been in detention since a few days after the coup.
His wife, Ha Vu, who is based in Australia, said she and her family were “heartbroken” at the verdict and called for him to be deported.
“Sean has been one of Myanmar’s greatest supporters for over 20 years and has worked tirelessly to strengthen Myanmar’s economy.
Please consider the contributions … and deport him now,” she said in a Facebook post.
Australia called for Turnell’s release.
“The Australian government has consistently rejected the charges against Professor Turnell.
(It) rejects today’s court ruling … and calls for his immediate release,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement.
Australian consular officials tasked with assisting Turnell were denied access to the court,
Wong said. Thursday’s sentencing took place in a closed court in the capital, Naypyidaw.
The defendants’ exact offence under the official secrets act remains unclear, though a source previously said Turnell’s offence “relates to an allegation that he had government documents”.
An analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank, Richard Horsey, called the proceedings “a show trial”.
“For Sean the hope now must be that – having already been in detention for almost 20 months – he will be released soon from this terrible ordeal and reunited with his family,” he said. ,
Reuters Yangon, Myanmar ● Thu, September 29, 2022
Click to read: https://www.thejakartapost.com/world/2022/09/29/myanmar-court-jails-suu-kyi-australian-economist-for-3-years.html.
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Today’s Headlines: September 30, 2022
BRUNEI DARRUSALAM
CAMBODIA |
PM happy with successful celebration of Pchum Ben Festival
Prime Minister Hun Sen has expressed his delight with the successful celebration of the annual Pchum Ben Festival unlike last year when the celebration was cancelled due to Covid-19 threat.
In a special voice message on September 26, Mr Hun Sen said that although he did not attend the Pchum Ben Festival this year, he was happy that the Cambodian people celebrated the festival successfully with preservation of all aspects of safety, especially the prevention of Covid-19 spread.
The Premier continued that in the past few days, he had received successively from the Ministry of Health’s leadership daily information related to Covid-19 infection cases – around 10 new cases – and vaccination rates, as well as reports from Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Interior.
According to the Prime Minister, he will stay in Tokyo, Japan for two nights and return home on September 28, after attending the State Funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and having a short meeting with his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida. AKP-C.Nika
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9.30.22
INDONESIA |
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LAOS |
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MALAYSIA |
9.30.22
9.27.22
MYANMAR |
Is the military junta losing its ground in Myanmar?: Daily Star contributor
The writer says the international community should exert more pressure on the military junta regime in Myanmar.
DHAKA (THE DAILY STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – The military junta in Myanmar, which came to power by toppling the elected government in February 2021, seems to be in deep trouble.
They rejected the results of the national election in 2020, which was arranged under their supervision. In fact, they reversed Myanmar’s history. Long after their direct military rule in the country, they started a limited process of democratisation when Aung Sun Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy (NLD) came in power in 2011. Since then, the military junta and the NLD jointly ran the country.
Suu Kyi even defended the Myanmar military’s brutality and atrocities at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). But the election held in November 2020 changed the relations between the junta and NLD. The leadership of the junta spoiled the achievements of the last 10 years.
Myanmar Times’ Burmese Daily Edition Fires Editor-in-Chief, 12 Other Journalists Without Notice
The Myanmar Times office on Bo Aung Kyaw Road (Upper Block), Kyaukdata Township, Yangon. July 19, 2019. (Myanmar Now)
Managers at The Myanmar Times have fired 13 journalists, including the editor-in-chief, from the newspaper’s Burmese language daily edition without any prior warning.
Staff were told about the layoffs at an “emergency meeting” midday Thursday and asked not to come into the office the following day, said Than Naing, one of the editors who was fired.
“They should have notified us at least one month in advance,” he told Myanmar Now.
There were 41 people on the editorial team before the sackings. The edition’s chief correspondent, Zeyar Lin, was also among those laid off.
Two of the fired employees confirmed they were compensated with two and a half months’ salary in lieu of prior notice, which is in line with labour laws.
Soe Myint, who was an executive editor at the paper until yesterday, said he felt the decision was made by the owner, Thein Tun, in the newspaper’s best interest.
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Myanmar Times lays off 70 employees
Company says layoffs will only last until July, though some staff see attempt to skirt labor laws
The Myanmar Times has laid off 70 of its employees, including 30 journalists, staff told Myanmar Now on Wednesday.
The layoffs are meant to last just until July, staff said.
Staffers will be paid 50% of their wages throughout May and will have to take June off as unpaid leave, said Wai Lin, the paper’s chief operating officer.
“We have not fired them,” he said. “At the end of June, we’ll make a decision on whether or not to call them back in.”
The paper would not offer a reason for the layoffs, but the Covid-19 pandemic has hit newspaper revenues across the world, forcing layoffs and closures elsewhere.
Some employees have criticised the move as a way of firing employees without paying severance payments required by the labor ministry.
Under law, severance entitlements are determined by how long an employee has been at a company.
“If they want to remove all of us at once, compensate us according to the rules and regulations,” an employee who requested anonymity told Myanmar Now. “Now it’s awkward. It feels like they’re making decisions in secrecy.”
Wai Lin denied the move was an attempt to skirt the law.
“If they don’t want to stay, we’ll terminate them and follow the regulations of the labor ministry,” he said.
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PHILIPPINES |
Today’s Paper: September 30, 2022
September 30, 2022
Marcos -Romualdez Family Newspaper- The Manila Times Political Troll … propagates FAKES NEWS
SINGAPORE |
TV network started by Marcos-allied tycoon raises concerns about politicisation of media
Concerns have been raised about politics influencing media coverage under the government of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr following the soft launch of a new television network owned by Filipino billionaire and former senator Manny Villar.
The free-to-air broadcast AllTV went live for the first time on Sept 13 on the frequency that media giant ABS-CBN lost in 2020 under former president Rodrigo Duterte.
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9.7.22
THAILAND |
Beautiful freedom
The former Myanmar beauty queen who slammed the country’s junta and was detained at Suvarnabhumi last week is free to fly to Canada, where she has been granted refugee status.
9.30.22
VIET NAM |
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