Mar 21, 2008 (DVB), Veteran journalist Ludu Sein Win has been informed by the state censor board that his writing can be published again after a brief ban, he told DVB yesterday.

Three journals which regularly feature Ludu Sein Win's work were told last week by the censor board not to publish his articles until further notice.

Speaking in an interview with DVB yesterday, the writer said he had been told he could resume publication on Monday.

"I was informed by an official from the censor board that I can start writing in publications again from this coming Monday," he said.

Ludu Sein Win said he had been given no explanation for the censor board's decisions, but assumed the ban was connected to a political speech he made that was disseminated on the internet.

"I think it has something to do with my speech which came out on 8 March," he said.

"It seemed like some officials from the censor boards decided to suspend my articles from being published until they heard from their superiors."

In the speech, Ludu Sein Win called on people to use their power to rise up and oppose the military regime.

He said that despots would never willingly relinquish power and that the Burmese people should not waste time waiting for the United Nations to rescue them.

Speaking yesterday, Ludu Sein Win expanded on the comments made in his speech.

"I don’t believe that any outside forces, such as the UN or the United States, have the capacity to bring change to Burma. I only believe in my people," he said.

"At this time, we have to act according to the situation. We can’t just go out onto the streets and cause riots because someone told us to oppose the military dictatorship using people’s power; in fact there are many other ways to express our opinion," he went on.

"It is actually the influential people and organizations who should be saying these things. I’m only saying this now because they are not doing it."

Reporting by Aye Nai