MPs stay quiet on Official Secret Act debate

MPs stay quiet on Official Secret Act debate
by -
Mizzima

Members of the Pyithu Hluttaw declined the opportunity on September 25 to debate the potential for amendment to the 1923 Burma Official Secrets Act.

U Thein Nyint MP (New National Democratic Party, Thingangyuun Township) proposed a debate on the law used to sentence four Unity Journal journalists and its chief executive officer to ten years imprisonment with hard labour after their report on an alleged chemical weapons site in Pauk Township, Magway Region.

“I proposed it because I want all journalists to be free including those from Unity Journal ' said U Thein Nyunt.
 
In response to the proposal, Thura U Shwe Mann suggested that the Law and Judicial Committee may wish to review the law after its translation to the Myanmar language.

Deputy Minister for Home Affairs, Brigadier General Kyaw Kyaw Tun told the hluttaw he believed the law should not be amended for as it was still required to protect state security.