Information Minister U Pe Myint is a doctor-turned-journalist who was a critic of the previous government’s media policy. An ethnic Rakhine born at Thandwe in 1949, the former vice chair of the Myanmar Press Council is a renowned author who won a national literature award winner in 1995. Pe Myint faces big challenges and some big questions in his new role, including a public debate over whether the role of the Information Ministry can be justified. Frontier spoke to Pe Myint in an interview that touched on his plans for reforming the media, the competitive advantage of state-run publications over their private sector counterparts and his top priority as minister.
Myanmar’s regime is hunting down those who oppose its upcoming election by using a law criminalising any criticism of the poll, detaining and handing long jail sentences to a wide array of people, from film stars to ordinary citizens.
BY Frontier
