(Globe International/IFEX) – On 18 January 2007, Mr. N. Enkhsaihan, chief of the Intelligence Office of Bayan-Ulgii aimag, requested that the obituary of one of the local residents be read out on the local public radio in the Mongolian language. However, Mr. R. Suragan, the director of the station, insisted that the condolences be conveyed […]
(Globe International/IFEX) – On 18 January 2007, Mr. N. Enkhsaihan, chief of the Intelligence Office of Bayan-Ulgii aimag, requested that the obituary of one of the local residents be read out on the local public radio in the Mongolian language. However, Mr. R. Suragan, the director of the station, insisted that the condolences be conveyed only in the Kazakh (ethnic group) language. Following the incident, on 23 January, the chief of the Intelligence Office summoned the radio director to his office to clear up the case.
According to Enkhsaikhan: “We requested Bayan-Ulgii aimag’s public radio to air the condolences in Mongolian. But Mr. R. Suragan, director of the radio station, insisted that the condolences be read out in the Kazakh language. We turned to Mr. Zarkhum, head of Bayan-Ulgii aimag’s administration, for permission to air the condolences in Mongolian, but to no avail. Then I met with R. Suragan and asked him to be more flexible, but he threatened to turn the complaint to higher authorities.”
Suragan, said, “The Intelligence Office of Bayan-Ulgii aimag demanded that we inform them of the content of our radio programmes and he also asked why we were insisting upon airing the information only in the Kazakh language, even though we are in Mongolian territory.”
Globe sent a notification letter to Enkhsaikhan to inform him that he had transgressed the relevant laws, such as the law on Public Service Broadcaster (PSB) and Article 3.1 of the law on media freedom, which states that media outlets should bear the responsibility for the information they publish and broadcast. There should not be any control or censorship on public information.
Actions such as Enkhsaikhan’s, and the actions of the head of Bayan-Ulgii aimag’s administration, who gave him permission to intervene, are illegal.
