Chin female leader among panelists at International Media Conference

10 March 2014: Mai Democracy, aka Van Nei Kim, is to speak as one of the plenary panelists at the 2014 East-West Centre’s International Media Conference in Rangoon, Burma.

Journalist-cum-youth leader Mai Democracy, daughter of the late Chin political leader Ram Ling Hmung, will be involved in the event, which kicks off today, the theme being “Challenges of a Free Press” in a changing Burma.

The 23-year-old Chin, who represents the Chin World Media, a Rangoon-based weekly newspaper printed in Burmese, will participate in a Wednesday discussion session focusing on the role of ethnic media in regards to the country’s peace process.

She will be sitting alongside Maureen Aung-Thwin, Director of the Open Society Foundations Burma Project; Nai Kasauh Mon, Chief Editor of the Independent Mon News agency; Nan Paw Gay, Acting Development Officer at the Burma News International; and Zin Linn, Editorial Quality Consultant at the Burma News International.

As a leader of the Chin Youth Network, an umbrella organization comprising 25 youth groups, Mai Democracy addressed on behalf of Chin youth the Chin National Conference held in November last year.

In May last year, she was one of the four panelists at the second conference on media development in Burma discussing the role of media in democratic transition.

The three-day conference is attended by various regional and international journalists, and well-known leaders including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who gave a speech on media and press freedom at the welcome session yesterday.

Last week, Mai Democracy participated as one of the Chin journalists in the second ethnic media conference held in Taunggyi, Shan State.#