Google executive chairman urges Myanmar to embrace free speech

YANGON (AP) - Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt on Friday urged Myanmar's government to allow private businesses to develop the country's woeful telecommunications infrastructure, emphasising the importance of competition and free speech.

"Try to keep the government out of regulating the internet," he said to a round of applause from a group of students at a technical university in Yangon.

"The answer to bad speech is more speech. More communication. More voices," he said. "If you are a political leader you get a much better idea of what your citizens are thinking about."

Mr Schmidt said the Internet can help cement political and economic opening in Myanmar, which has undergone rapid changes following elections in 2011 that gave the country a civilian leadership after decades of direct military rule.