The literary and academic talk show to be held in Rangoon is under the hawk’s eye of the junta and will be monitored and tightly controlled by the Rangoon Division Peace and Development Council.

“We are now scrutinizing the subject of the talk show, the number of participants, among others,” an officer told Mizzima on condition of anonymity.

The directive for tighter control was issued before the ‘Armed Forces Day’ on March 27.

The new directive states the organizer of the talk shows must submit the application with a signed acknowledgement along with the names of the resource persons, the number of participants, among others.

A staff member of the ‘Knowledge Bank Library’, which frequently sponsors and organizes such literary talk shows said, “They checked thoroughly when I submitted the application for permission on March 27. Earlier, they didn’t ask many questions, just asked the names of the resource persons. And then they gave permission by stamping the office seal on our application”.

Similarly such thorough scrutiny was made on applications submitted for the Economics talk show and forum compared to earlier, an official of the ‘Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry’ said.

“Earlier we didn’t need to apply for our forums and talk shows. But now they are thoroughly scrutinizing it,” he said.

Many talk shows and forums are usually held at hotels and they need permission and recommendation from the authorities concerned from now on or else they cannot book the hall, a staff from Sedona Hotel in Rangoon said.

Pe Myint, a famous writer who usually participates in talk shows on his experience of his writing career and educational articles for youths, said that the new directive may have an impact on writers.

“The writers will lose their freedom under tighter controls. I wish the writers can overcome the current crisis,” Pe Myint said.