NLD announces 24 hour expiry date on all future statements

NLD announces 24 hour expiry date on all future statements

By our correspondent in Yangon

The NLD has announced that in future all statements that it and its spokespeople make will only be valid for 24 hours, following controversy over NLD spokesperson U Nyan Win stating and then denying that the Rohingya should be given citizenship.

The denial by U Nyan Win that he had said Rohingya should be given citizenship was widely expected, but is still an embarrassment for the party, as it is becoming a fairly regular occurrence. There was also controversy recently when the NLD denied a report by Reuters that Aung San Suu Kyi was considering a political deal with former General and current Parliamentary Speaker Thura Shwe Mann, even though two senior members had told Reuters this was the case.

“It is very confusing for the people to have statements made and then denied,” said Dr Yan Myo Sein, a political analyst who always seems to be randomly quoted in Myanmar media. “We don’t know if is official policy, just the opinion of the person who made the statement, or if it is secret policy they don’t want people to know. If we know that whatever is said is only valid for 24 hours, that will make things much clearer.”

Asked if Aung San Suu Kyi had instructed U Nyan Win to make the latest denial, and insider at NLD headquarters told Burma Tha Din, “I have no idea, no-one here has seen A May for months. Mr Phil Robertson for Human Rights Watch understands best. It is as he said, if A May says it, then that is the policy.”

Another NLD insider told Burma Tha Din that the new policy came directly from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s office in Nay Pyi Daw, and was partly inspired when Daw Suu saw house staff watching the Mission Impossible movie where messages automatically self-destruct after being read.