Almost a year has passed since the day Burma’s military regime suddenly upped fuel prices without telling anyone, triggering off a series of small protests that led to some bigger ones, and finally, the really big ones that for a few days in September captured the world’s headlines.

The Khmer Empire was at its apogee during the reign of Jayavarman VII (1181-1215 A.D.). Its territory covered the current Cambodia, all of southern Vietnam, all of the current Laos, all of the current Thailand, and part of the current Malaysia. Unlike the Khmers, Thais, known then as Siameses, were not natives of the region. The kingdom of Thailand, known then as Siam, did not appear in Southeast Asia until the mid- 14th century.

The June edition of the New Era Journal, a Burmese-language monthly published in Bangkok, carried a letter from an unnamed senior lawyer practicing in South Dagon, greater Rangoon. According to the author, to be selected for the test to become an apprentice judge these days a lawyer needs to pay the selecting panel 3 million kyat – upwards of US$2,500. The writer lamented that although senior judges know about this they turn a blind eye.

Mention 'independent media' and we immediately think of monarchs, political dictators, uniformed heads of state, military junta and similar entities as the main obstacles for media independence. There may be some honourable exceptions, but in general, our past experiences tell us how these types of political systems are anathema to independence in general, and independent media in particular.