AUSTRALIAN newspaperman Ross Dunkley has been arrested in Burma and accused of having been in possession of marijuana and overstaying his visa, according to media reports.
Mr Dunkley, who co-founded the Myanmar Times in 2000, is well-known in the region and advocated working within the system as the best way of changing the outlook of the Burma junta.
He has visited Phuket and is said to have looked at buying into a publishing business here.
Exile news website the Irrawaddy has reported a "power struggle" at Myanmar Consolidated Media, the group that owns the Myanmar Times, which is published weekly in English and the country's official language, Burmese.
Dunkley, a regular visitor to Thailand, divides his time between Myanmar and Cambodia, where he is also stakeholder in The Phnom Penh Post.
According to the AFP newsagency, Dunkley, who controls 49 percent of MCM, was reportedly trying to rebut an attempted editorial takeover by Tin Tun Oo, who owns 51 percent.
The Irrawaddy said in January that its sources suggested Tin Tun Oo "may well be successful as the military junta can interfere in the issue at any time".
Mr Dunkley was arrested in Yangon on Thursday. He is believed to be being held in the notorious Insein Jail, which has on more than one occasion held democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Mr Dunkley also launched Vietnam's first English-language weekly in the early 1990s.
Airlines Slash Prices in War for Asian PassengersMr Dunkley, who co-founded the Myanmar Times in 2000, is well-known in the region and advocated working within the system as the best way of changing the outlook of the Burma junta.
He has visited Phuket and is said to have looked at buying into a publishing business here.
Exile news website the Irrawaddy has reported a "power struggle" at Myanmar Consolidated Media, the group that owns the Myanmar Times, which is published weekly in English and the country's official language, Burmese.
Dunkley, a regular visitor to Thailand, divides his time between Myanmar and Cambodia, where he is also stakeholder in The Phnom Penh Post.
According to the AFP newsagency, Dunkley, who controls 49 percent of MCM, was reportedly trying to rebut an attempted editorial takeover by Tin Tun Oo, who owns 51 percent.
The Irrawaddy said in January that its sources suggested Tin Tun Oo "may well be successful as the military junta can interfere in the issue at any time".
Mr Dunkley was arrested in Yangon on Thursday. He is believed to be being held in the notorious Insein Jail, which has on more than one occasion held democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Mr Dunkley also launched Vietnam's first English-language weekly in the early 1990s.
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What does it take for the UN to step in and sort this dictatorship out. The organisation do not appear to have the power or respect they once held. Maybe it is time for a replacement organisation to take over, one with teeth, not just a bark.
Posted by Myanmar Mania on February 13, 2011 00:15