On September 25, Manipur’s security advisor Kuldiep Singh and director general of police Rajiv Singh issued a joint statement disputing the CMO’s claims. According to The Indian Express, they clarified that the intelligence report “could not be substantiated on the ground,” leading the CMO to retract its initial statement.

Panic and tensions escalate due to fake news: The circulation of the unverified intelligence report from the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) alleging the infiltration of over 900 Kuki militants from Myanmar sparked immediate panic and unrest across the already tense state of Manipur.

The inflammatory nature of the report, which included detailed claims of militants equipped with drone-based bombs and coordinated attack plans, amplified existing ethnic divisions between the Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities. Rumours spread rapidly, leading to heightened fear and suspicion, with both sides feeling threatened and vulnerable to violence. Social media platforms, in particular, became a hotbed for the dissemination of this information, further fuelling the chaos as people reacted to the alleged threat without waiting for verification.

The news, which was found to be fake, had tangible effects on the ground, especially in areas with mixed populations of Kuki-Zo and Meitei communities. Kuki groups, feeling targeted by the report, mobilised shutdowns and issued public warnings to stay home, halting daily life and escalating tensions. The Meitei community, on the other hand, became increasingly alarmed, fearing an imminent attack, which led to calls for bolstering security in their villages. The confusion and distrust sown by the report not only strained the fragile peace but also posed a risk of provoking violent confrontations, as both sides were led to believe they were under attack. This chaos was exacerbated by a general atmosphere of uncertainty, further complicating efforts to maintain law and order in the state.

Security response and backlash from Kuki-Zo groups: Despite this, on September 20, Kuldiep Singh informed reporters that security agencies, particularly the Assam Rifles, had been placed on high alert in hill districts bordering Myanmar in response to the intelligence input. He noted that the issue had been discussed in a Strategic Operation Group meeting with senior officials from various security forces, including the Army, Assam Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), and state police.

Kuldiep Singh’s remarks were met with criticism from Kuki-Zo groups. The Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum (ITLF) accused him of spreading “devious propaganda” to defame the Kuki-Zo people, claiming that the report could be used as a pretext for attacks on Kuki-Zo volunteers. In response to these concerns, Manipur’s top security officials issued a clarification, confirming that while security forces remained on high alert to protect citizens, the intelligence input had not been substantiated. They urged communities to remain calm and avoid spreading or believing in rumours.

Shutdowns and concerns of violence: Following the joint statement, the CMO communicated with the Information and Public Relations Department and security officials, formally retracting its earlier claims.

In reaction to the government’s claims, several Kuki groups called for a shutdown in tribal-dominated areas. The Kuki Inpi Manipur (KIM), an apex Kuki organization, and the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF), based in Churachandpur, released statements on Tuesday condemning the intelligence report as unfounded. The KIM asserted that the CMO’s report about 900 Kuki militants infiltrating from Myanmar and planning coordinated attacks on September 28 was baseless, accusing the government of fabricating the claim to justify a potential attack on the Kuki-Zo community.

The Kuki organisations called on their people to stay home and avoid travel or work on September 27 and 28. They announced a total shutdown across all Kuki-inhabited regions on September 28, with enforcement to be overseen by Kuki Inpi and the KSO in their respective areas. The groups also expressed concern over potential attacks targeting Kuki areas on the 28th and advised Kuki-Zo village volunteers to reinforce their positions in the ‘buffer zones.’

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Threatened by Meitei Leepun, Babloo Loitongbam stands firm against false claims and advocates for refugees

Meitei Leepun threatens Human Rights Defender Babloo Loitongbam over alleged ties to the Kuki community, “visits” his home to intimidate his family

Manipur plunges into deeper turmoil amid fresh violence and drone attacks since early September

Mob fury: Manipur HRD, Babloo Loitongbam’s home attacked in Imphal

Manipur on Edge: Violent Clashes Erupt on the day following Kuki-Zo Protests Demanding Separate Administration, action against state CM based on leaked tapes 

The post “Leaked Intelligence report” on alleged Kuki militants entering Manipur from Myanmar sparks panic, later retracted by authorities appeared first on SabrangIndia.

James Lalrinchhana, the deputy commissioner (DC) of Champhai district which shares a border with Myanmar’s Chin state, told PTI that an intense gunfight broke out between Myanmar’s ruling junta-backed forces and militia group People’s Defence Force (PDF) on Sunday evening.

The fighting reportedly started after the PDF attacked two military bases at Khawmawi and Rihkhawdar in Chin state near the Indian border, he said, adding that the fighting continued till Monday. Over 2,000 people from Khawmawi, Rihkhawdar and the neighbouring villages in Chin crossed over to India and took shelter in Zokhawthar in Champhai district due to the gunfight, Lalrinchhana said.

The Myanmar military base at Rihkhawdar was taken over by the militia in the early hours of Monday, November 13, and the base at Khawmawi was also taken over by them in the afternoon, he said.

In retaliation, the Myanmar army launched airstrikes on Khawimawi and Rihkhawdar villages on Monday, he said reported The Telegraph..

At least 17 people injured in the gunfight were brought to Champhai for treatment, Lalrinchhana said. The newspaper reported that a 51-year-old civilian from Myanmar who was already living in Zokhawthar died when the gunfight was happening on the other side of the border, the DC said.

Local sources said he was allegedly hit by a stray bullet from across the border. Besides, Zokhawthar Village Council president Lalmuanpuia told PTI that five personnel of the Chin National Army (CNA), which was a part of the PDF, were killed in the gunfight.

Lalmuanpuia said that more than 6,000 people from Myanmar were already living in Zokhawthar before the gunfight started.

Six districts of the state — Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Serchhip, Hnahthial and Saitual — share a 510-km-long border with Myanmar’s Chin state.

The first influx from the neighbouring country happened in February 2021 when the junta seized power. Since then, thousands of people from Myanmar have taken shelter in the northeastern state.

According to the state Home Department, 31,364 Myanmar nationals are currently living in different parts of the state. The majority of them live in relief camps, while others are accommodated by their local relatives and some live in rented houses.

The Myanmar nationals taking shelter in Mizoram are from the Chin community, who share ethnic ties with the Mizos.

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The post 2,000 refugees from Myanmar cross over to India as intense gunfight rock Chin state appeared first on SabrangIndia.

International media is headlining the excesses of military-ruled Myanmar, where a court has sentenced 37-year-old American journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in jail. According to Reuters, this was confirmed by Fenster’s lawyer, and the sentencing comes even after the United States called for his release from “unjust detention”.

Managing Editor of online magazine Frontier Myanmar, Fenster, was found guilty of “incitement and violations of immigration and unlawful associations laws”. According to his employers, this sentence was “the harshest possible under the law”. Thomas Kean, Editor-in-Chief of Frontier Myanmar, one of the country’s top independent news outlets, was quoted by Reuters saying, “There is absolutely no basis to convict Danny of these charges. Everyone at Frontier is disappointed and frustrated at this decision. We just want to see Danny released as soon as possible so he can go home to his family.”

Fenster is reportedly, the “first Western journalist sentenced to prison in recent years in Myanmar”. On February 1, the country witnessed a military government take over after a coup against its elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Unacceptable and ridiculous that @FrontierMM Danny Fenster was sentenced to 11 years in prison by #Myanmar junta today. No journalist should be jailed for doing our job. Another testament that shows the world must end this military junta ruling and atrocities at all cost.

— Hnin Zaw (@hninyadanazaw) November 12, 2021

Danny Fenster, an American journalist, had been sentenced to 11 years imprisonment with hard labor a court in Yangon on Friday. #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar #Myanmar #Burma #JournalismIsNotACrime

— Wai Moe (@wai_moe) November 12, 2021

According to Reuters, the online magazine Frontier Myanmar, is one of the country’s top independent news sites and Fenster had previously worked for Myanmar Now, which focused on investigative news “but was banned after the military seized power.” He was arrested “as he was about to board a flight to the US on May 24” and was held at  “Yangon’s notorious Insein prison, where hundreds of opponents of the Tatmadaw, as the military is known, were jailed, many beaten and tortured, during decades of dictatorship”, as per news reports. He has been also charged with Sedition and offences under the country’s terrorism act earlier this week.

According to MyanmarNow.org, Danny Fenster was “accused of inciting unrest against Myanmar’s coup regime under Section 505a of the Penal Code, as well as breaching Section 13(1) of the Immigration Act and Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act.”  The Frontier Myanmar issued its statement on Friday detailing that Fenster was “handed a three-year prison term for the incitement charge, another three years for violating the Unlawful Associations Act and five years for the immigration charge, as well as a 100,000 kyat (US$56) fine.” It added that the “decision was announced this morning at a court inside Yangon’s Insein Prison, following a trial that was closed to the public. The sentences imposed were the harshest possible under the law.” 

Frontier Myanmar and Myanmar Now had previously clarified that Fenster had resigned from Myanmar Now in July 2020 and joined Frontier Myanmar the following month. According to Myanmar Now, Than Zaw Aung, Fenster’s lawyer, said that the prosecution called a total of 13 witnesses to testify, while the defence team relied on the testimony of three witnesses and various documents to make its case, 

Thomas Kean, Frontier Myanmar’s Editor-in-Chief told the media that, “There is absolutely no basis to convict Danny of these charges. His legal team clearly demonstrated to the court that he had resigned from Myanmar Now and was working for Frontier from the middle of last year.”

Swe Win, the editor-in-chief of Myanmar Now and Fenster’s former employer said, “Danny has done nothing wrong at all. And Myanmar Now has done nothing wrong, either. I view the sentencing as a sheer political kidnapping of an American citizen in the junta’s efforts to gain leverage in dealing with the United States. Danny now must be viewed as a hostage, and as such, the Biden administration has to send a clear and strong message to the junta for this senseless act.” The report added that “Swe Win and two other editors, Nyein Chan and Aung Shin, are also accused of the same crimes as Fenster.”

Related:

Myanmar refugee children can now go to school in Mizoram
A simmering revolution, stories untold, a military crackdown: Myanmar

The post Myanmar: American journalist Danny Fenster sentenced to 11-year jail term appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In a beautiful display of compassion, authorities in Mizoram have decided to permit refugee children from Myanmar to attend school in the state. The announcement was made via a circular issued by the Directorate of School Education of the Government of Mizoram.

The circular signed by James Lalrinchhana, Director of Education, is addressed to all District Education Officers and Sub Divisional Education Officers. It cites Chapter 2(4) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE), 2019 and says “children aged between 6 to 14 years belonging to disadvantaged communities have the right to be admitted to school in a class appropriate to his or her age for completing elementary education.”

The circular may be read here: 

It is noteworthy that Myanmar and Mizoram share not just a border, but also several cultural elements. Many people have families on both sides of the border. Mizoram was the first to extend help to refugees fleeing Myanmar in wake of a bloody coup in February. Chief Minister Zoramthanga had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 18 about the burgeoning humanitarian crisis in the neighbouring nation and asked that “political refugees” from Myanmar be given asylum, food and shelter in India.

“India cannot turn a blind eye to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in front of us in our own backyard,” Zoramthanga had written, adding that there were close ethnic and historical links between India and the neighbour as the “Myanmar area bordering Mizoram is inhabited by Chin communities who are ethnically our brethren with whom we have been having close contacts throughout all these years even before India became independent.” He had also refused to deport refugees after India sealed entry points along the border later that month itself.

Now, Mizoram continues to lead the way in treating refugees with compassion and dignity. The state is walking the talk and offering solutions to actual on-ground concerns by ensuring children’s education does not suffer. “As long as they are on Indian soil, it is our responsibility to take care of them, they cannot miss out on education so crucial to their development,” Lalrinchhana told The Indian Express.

According to IE, as of September 1, 2021, as many as 9,450 refugees are taking refuge across 10 districts of Mizoram. These include 20 Myanmarese legislators from the government overthrown by the Junta. IE also reports that Champhai district, located along the Indo-Myanmar border, is currently sheltering 4,488 refugees, the highest number, followed by capital Aizawl, which has 1,622 refugees. 

Related:

India seals all entry points along Myanmar border
What is India’s stand on humanitarian aid to those fleeing Myanmar violence?

The post Myanmar refugee children can now go to school in Mizoram appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Horror stories are arriving from Myanmar, in our own neighbourhood, but, obviously, much of mainstream India and its mainline media care two hoots for these. The world, and the West, it seems, does not care a damn either.

Well, until it becomes an endless spiral of a bloody civil war, a war which will not be easy to roll back, is it?

Or, a protracted guerilla war in the rough, hilly border terrain with ethnic minority rebels fighting an endless armed struggle against the military, and the ‘democratic’, pro-mainland regime earlier, led by the dominant community of Bamars. The democratic government was toppled on February 1 by the Military Junta led by General Aung Hlang!

So, will this coup be accompanied by the organised killings of citizens and young protesters by the military apparatus, the torture and imprisonment of innocents, a total clampdown in the prevailing realm of fear and condemnation, a virtual suspension of all human and fundamental rights, the complete decimation of the idea of democracy, and a consistent, scattered rebellion in the ethnic countryside, along with urban guerilla war in the big cities and towns as in Yangon and Mandalay, among the epicenters of the peaceful protests?

Amidst all this mayhem and madness, a third wave of the mass killer pandemic stalks Myanmar and its neighbourhood, especially India. So look at the sad mirror of Myanmar. It’s full of predictable possibilities, and they are loaded with pessimism and despair. And, of course, the infinite spiral of resistance – peaceful and armed!

In the first instance, the protests after the coup began at the hospitals where brave doctors, nurses and health workers refused to work for the Junta in the midst of a pandemic! They openly assembled inside and outside hospitals and shouted slogans, got themselves photographed by the international and local media, and sought immediate restoration of democracy under ‘State Counsellor’ Aung Saan Suu Kyi, the supreme and most popular leader in Myanmar.

Image Courtesy:thediplomat.com

So what are the new dictators doing with the doctors and health workers during the pandemic which is spreading like hell fire in the country?

Unbelievable, but yes! A crackdown on doctors and health workers, among others, is presently on in Myanmar.

Image Courtesy:theguardian.com

They are picking them up and packing them off to prison –medical and health service professionals. They are raiding underground clinics where doctors have set-up make-shift and secret Covid care centres for citizens. They have put doctors and nurses under surveillance even while the deadly virus is spreading post-second surge across the landscape, especially in the conflict zones of pitched battles between guerillas, civilians and army. Besides, the entire health industry under the military regime, including state health services, amidst a raging conflict where 100,000 people have reportedly been displaced according to UN figures, is reportedly on the verge of collapse.

The Guardian reports that a former head of the country’s Covid vaccination campaign, Dr Htar Htar Lin, has been arrested; he faces several charges, including ‘high treason’ — “for working with pro-democracy politicians. Hundreds of medics are wanted for incitement”.

An alarmed Joy Singhal, Myanmar head of delegation at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, told The Guardian: “It’s confirming our worries that the virus is spreading fast now, that the more contagious and dangerous variants are being identified in various parts of the country… Hospitals and the whole health system remain fractured and we need to urgently step up treatment, testing and prevention measures to avert a repeat of the tragedy experienced in other parts of South Asia.”

Hence, to be precise: are the powerful nations of the world, especially the Western democracies, and the United Nations and the countries of South Asia, waiting for a mass pandemic tragedy unfolding in this nation, accompanied by a protracted and bloody battle across the rapidly mushrooming armed conflict zones in the underground. Do they at all care for this beautiful and rugged country, sharing borders with Thailand, India, Bangladesh and China? So, if Myanmar is currently simmering in suffering, despair and unrest, does it matter for its neighbours and the rest of the world?

Reportedly, hundreds of youngsters in cities and towns, among others, are joining the underground rebels in the border states of ethnic minorities and elsewhere, and getting trained as armed guerillas. It is well known that most ethnic rebels are fighting a long armed struggle with the Myanmar regime, whatever be its nature, and they are not on the same page. It is also well-known that China tacitly backs many of them, even while China backs the Tatmadaw, the Junta, at its new sanitized, sinister and clinical capital, Nay Pyi Taw.

The Guardian reports (June 1, 2021):  “The people of Myanmar have been left with no other choice. They just have no other option left,” said Dr Sasa, spokesperson for Myanmar’s national unity government (NUG), which was set up by pro-democracy politicians. The constant threat of military raids, arrests, torture and killings have pushed communities to take up arms, he said. “It is just the beginning. The situation will become out of control. Even if it is one man in a village, they will not just bow in front of these murderers. It is the whole country on the road to civil war,” Sasa said.

The London newspaper reports that in the last week of May, 2021, “tens of thousands of people have been displaced in eastern Kayah state by intense fighting between the military, the newly formed Karenni People’s Defence Force and the Karenni Army, an established ethnic armed group… The military used helicopters to bomb and fire at civilian fighters, the Karenni People’s Defence Force told local media… At least 58 defence forces have formed across the country, of which 12 are active, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (Acled), an NGO.  These groups are formed at a local level and are not necessarily officially linked to the NUG.”

Scattered urban and civilian guerilla networks have been formed across Myanmar, especially in the big cities like Yangon. They are attacking ‘army informers and sympathizers’, including wedding parties – yes, violent, fatal attacks designed to kill and send a message across the monolithic military establishment and its support base among the civilians.

Image Courtesy:bbc.com/

More than 850 people have been reportedly killed by the army – most of them peaceful protesters and dissenters, mostly youngsters. The army raids in the nights, burns property, assaults them, picks up people, and it cracks down in the day time on the barricades and elsewhere. It’s virtually impossible to protest peacefully. It’s like what they are doing in Hongkong – the Chinese government. Surely, the Junta has a ready-made role model across the border, and what dissenters call – a full-fledged mentor in Beijing.

Hundreds have been packed off to jail, including journalists, including at least two American journalists working in Myanmar.  At least 20 civilians, mostly villages, were reportedly killed by the army in the river delta region of Ayeyarwady, not far from Yangon, in a village called Hlayswe.

Local media outlets and citizens have testified to the army unleashed brutality in the name of searching for weapons. Suprisingly, the villages fought one of the well-equipped armies in the world with crossbows and catapults, in what seemed a striking resemblance to clashes in the occupied zones of Palestine, or, old Vietnam War stories. The clashes began when the army routinely entered the area, hauled up the locals; beat them black and blue, while claiming to be searching for arms, according to reports.

Predictably, India, led by a Right-wing government in Delhi which has decisively seen a paradigm shift in its post-Independence foreign policy (for instance, on Palestine and Israel), decided to abstain at the United Nations on a resolution on Myanmar. While 119 countries voted in favour of a resolution which sought to stop arms flow to the military regime in Myanmar while blocking any means of legitimacy being given to it, India chose to abstain along with 36 countries led by China and Russia, saying the resolution  was hasty and tabled without adequate consultations with neighbours and regional countries.

Amidst the mass deaths and infinite distress of the pandemic, and its own dismal share of an abysmal human rights record and media scenario, post-coup Myanmar, under a brutish military clampdown, is obviously not important in India. Besides, villagers running away from the crackdown, hungry and terrorised, looking for temporary food and shelter in the border areas of India in the North-east, were officially denied any hospitality – even though the locals on either side share a long history of bonding, material transactions and human relationships across the often porous border.

Indeed, Myanmar and its sorrows are not exactly news in most parts of the world, including in the West, not even in America which reportedly has two of its citizens, both journalists, in prison, among the 80 plus journalists who are in jail, many of them in unknown locations. American threats of sanctions etc have not worked on the generals, who, in a dark irony, take great offence to be branded as a ‘Junta’ by journalists, and hate the armed toppling of a legitimate and democratic government being called a ‘coup’.

The crackdown started soon after the coup in February, 2021. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) then reported that security forces raided local media outlet Myanmar Now’s headquarters, seizing computers and part of the newsroom’s data server, among other equipment. Myanmar Now was one of the leading media outfits which covered the protests and reported on the military; in anticipation of the crackdown they had evacuated their offices on January 28, 2021. They were the first media publication to be targeted.

The IFJ reported that on March 8, five top media outlets had their licenses cancelled. They were reporting about the coup extensively. These major media outfits are: DVB, Khit Thit Media, Myanmar Now and 7DayNews. “They are “no longer allowed to broadcast or write or give information by using any kind of media platform or using any media technology,” the military declared.

During the peaceful protests soon after the 1 February coup, journalists were routinely attacked and chased by the security forces on the streets as they covered the peaceful protests. Many of them camouflaged themselves, while others refused to declare themselves as ‘Press’. There were routine pictures of camerapersons being chased by what are called the “armed thugs” of the security forces.

There are reports that many brave journalists are refusing to succumb and operating clandestinely, risking their own lives and the lives of their friends and families who give them shelter. Journalists are now routinely operating with camouflaged identities, shifting locations, working underground and solitary, with no organizational support or office, travelling long distances to save their body and soul, disguising themselves, and not connecting with their colleagues and homes/families for days.

Many families of journalists too seem to have gone underground –even as military raids continue. Some multi-media journalists are reportedly dismantling their equipment and hiding them from the security checks, before assembling them yet again. Talking to international media, journalists are saying that it is perhaps one of the most difficult and dangerous times of their lives in terms of professional work from the ground. Locals and citizens have taken over as journalists in many places, even while internet is banned, and the social media is under surveillance.

The Guardian (June 7, 2021) reported about Cherry Htike, 39, executive editor of Tachileik news agency, based in Shan state. She is on the run. Her media outfit is banned by the Junta. “Her team reports daily on the crackdowns, the bombings and other vital local information, but they pay a heavy price. Soldiers stalk them, hoping to catch a colleague off guard. They succeeded on 13 May when a photojournalist was detained after returning from a safe house to his own home.”

 “I worry for the safety of my team and myself every second,” she said. “Now uncertainty is a part of our life.”

In March, after the coup, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Indonesia, and Malaysia’s Gerakan Media Merdeka (Geram) issued a joint statement asking for international action to end the violence and arrests of journalists in Myanmar. They asked the military regime to immediately release the detained journalists. The military did not move one inch. Nor it seems the international community. When it came to the freedom of speech, expression and dissent, including the freedom of the journalists to report the truth from the ground, strong global action against the Junta seems to be missing.

The joint statement said, “We call upon the Indonesian and Malaysian government to work together with Asean countries in order to support the United Nations to send its investigation team to Myanmar.”

The IFJ said: “By limiting journalists’ information and ability to report, the true extent of the atrocities committed against journalists and the public remains unknown. The IFJ condemns the renewed attack on journalists and supports the call for the United Nations to send an investigative team to Myanmar to uncover and report on the conditions.”

Indeed, the case of two Reuters journalists, who were jailed in December 2017, is a tragic reminder from the past; their arrests happened under the democratic regime led by Aung Saang Suu Kyi! They were packed off to jail, despite international outrage, and branded as ‘traitors’ by the Myanmarese people who backed the genocide of the Rohingyas at the Rakhine state. They were condemned for documenting meticulously the murder of 10 Rohingya boys and men by Buddhist monks and the army.

Image Courtesy:thediplomat.com

Aung Saan Suu Kyi, a winner of the Noble Peace Prize who was under house arrest for many years, is yet again in jail and is facing, what is, undoubtedly, a kangaroo court. It’s yet another ironical twist of history that she has been put behind bars and is being hounded as a public spectacle by the same military general whom she backed after the organised massacre of the Rohingyas in Rakhine state. General Aung Hlaing, who is leading the coup now, was the man who led the genocide and mass rapes of women, which compelled 700,000 Rohingyas into Bangladesh.

Finally, Aung Saan Suu Kyi, who was captured and imprisoned in an unknown location on the day of the coup, February 1, 2021, and who practically disappeared from public view, was recently seen in a trial, ostensibly on corruption charges. While most media organizations have been shut, hounded or banned, the Junta’s propaganda mouthpiece, Global New Light of Myanmar, reported that the charges involved land misuse for the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, a philanthropic organisation headed by Suu Kyi. It is alleged that she was involved in the illegal activity of accepting $600,000 in cash and 11 kg of gold from a former chief minister of the Yangon region. She can get up to 15 years in prison, even while her lawyer called the charges, “absurd”, Reuters reported.

Soon after the coup, she was charged with an equally absurd allegation: for possessing Walkie Talkies! This too was charged under a ridiculous law called the Export and Import Law.

Indeed, Myanmar, earlier Burma, has had a chequered democracy, despite its rich cultural and social history, the amalgamation of various cultures and communities in its society, including vast number of Indians and Bengalis in Rangoon, and its historical interactions and linkages with other nations, including India. The famous old song from Bombay cinema is still extremely popular among old-timers. The song follows a long distance ‘trunk call’ where a male voice calls out from the far away: Hello.. Main Rangoon se bol rahan hoon… The song follows … Mere piya gaye Rangoon, wahan se kiya hain telephoon… tumhari yaad satati hai…(Patanga, 1949, Shamshad Begum and C Ramchandra).

Surely, The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh is also a rich narrative of the’ Burma’ of the past, and its intrinsic linkages with India.  Indeed, during the earlier phase of military rule in the 1980s and 1990s, several Burmese rebels and refugees took shelter in India, including at the house of George Fernandes. Burmese students then fleeing the oppressive regime in Rangoon also took shelter in university campuses like JNU in 1989 and after; they were whole-heartedly welcomed by the JNU Students’ Union of that time, and the wider students community.

Aung Saan Suu Kyi is the youngest daughter of Aung San, a student leader, editor, founder of the armed forces in Burma, freedom fighter and leader of the armed struggle, founder of the Communist Party of Burma and the Socialist Party of Burma,  the first premier who led the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom League and formed the “post-independence’ government after a deal with the British. He led the ‘independent’ nation for a brief stint at the head of an anti-fascist alliance, but was soon assassinated along with his entire cabinet, and his brother, by his political rivals. He is still revered as the Father of the Nation and is highly respected in Myanmar.

The AFPFL led a fledgling democracy, led by U Nu, ally of Aung San, and aligned with China and the communists. Significantly, under Aung San, most ethnic minority groups like the Chin, Kachin and Shan, barring the Karen and section of the communists and army, joined the government wholeheartedly. Since then, this legacy has been largely troubled; most ethnic minority communities in the border states are totally or partially alienated with the mainland regime led by the Bamar majority community, including the ‘democratic government’ led by Aung Saan Suu Kyi.

The next coup was led by Ne Win, the second-in-command of Aung San. The army thereby ruled Burma for 50 years since 1962 until a semblance of democratic reforms were introduced very late in 2011. It was a quasi-democracy with Aung San Suu Kyi at the helm, but it created its own flip side of reforms, education, free market and social mobility, globalisation, internet freedom, free media and social media, international interactions, and a huge young generation which did not carry the suffocating baggage of being ruled by the military.

Earlier, the ‘8888 uprising’ began on 08.08.1988; it was led by students of ‘Rangoon’ with the huge participation of citizens, especially Buddhist monks. It was crushed. In 1990, her National League for Democracy won an overwhelming victory in the elections. She was not allowed to assume power by the military despite this internationally sanctioned victory with a majority of Burmese people voting for her party, almost 81 per cent. She remained under arrest for 21 long years, house arrest for 15 of these years, received the Noble Prize for Peace, became an international celebrity of peace and democracy, and a darling of the West.

Yet again, in 2020-2021, her election victory, overwhelming and reducing the military-backed party into a miserable minority, triggered yet another coup. She was reportedly not in good terms with General Aung Hlaing in recent times. The general appears to be having other things in his mind.

The February 1 coup led to mass protests, mostly peaceful, especially in Yangon and Mandalay. Initially, there was no violent reaction by the army at the barricades or the streets. At some places the cops allowed the students to proceed, or even showed solidarity gestures. The students were backed by citizens across Myanmar. The cities like Yangon have always been the epicenter of mass protests led by students and Buddhist monks. They have also witnessed bloody clampdowns as in 1988, and in 2007. The cities yet again turned into fortresses and with simmering unrest stalking the streets.

Image Courtesy:scroll.in

Post-coup, when an eerie silence descended over the streets of the cities, the people soon organised a unique protest – responding to the last-minute call by their imprisoned leader, Aung Saan Suu Kyi. They banged on cups, saucers, frying pans, and utensils, inside their homes, and this went on for hours, turning into a huge orchestra of domesticated protest, along with the symphony of car horns, bells, and other sounds. Myanmar had created another wave of revolution, with a new protest music.

Predictably, army raids started happening soon after in the night and people were hauled up from their homes, even as burning and looting was reported – by the army. This was reported by locals in the social media, as and when internet was allowed.

Significantly, the peaceful protests, which arrived in waves and spread across the cities and towns and rural areas, was marked by the three-finger ‘salute’. This was inspired from the ‘Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins; the salute is a sign to express solidarity, friendship, respect, thank you, and admiration – soon, clearly, it became a symbol of defiance and resistance against the military dictatorship.

General Hlaing, leading the ‘Tatmadaw’, the army, at the sanitised army fortress of Nay Pyi, is himself under the scanner for his reported links with arms and business deals, and the business interests of the army. Apparently the most popular beer in Myanmar is an army product: Myanmar Beer produced by the Myanmar Brewery. People have started boycotting army products, including this particular beer.

The general has had political ambitions, and his retirement is due one month later, in July 2021. He leads the army’s political front, Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which lost the recent polls, despite huge backing by the army. Ironically, 25 per cent seats are reserved for the army in Parliament — without elections. Besides, the important ministries of defence and interior are controlled by it.

The Constitution has been drafted by the army – and all civilian governments are hemmed in by the army through tacit and overt means In other words, it has always been a ‘flawed democracy’ in Myanmar, even under Aung Saan Suu Kyi, with the army as a perennial and sinister shadow lurking in the backdrop.

The irony is that the new generation of the young (and the old) is refusing to accept the military regime anymore in their post-modern reality. They have tasted the fruits of this ‘flawed democracy’, and they have enjoyed it thoroughly. They want more democracy, more choices, and more freedom. They want to live as free citizens of a free country. They want enlightenment and they want to celebrate dissent. The Junta, led by old, discredited and scheming generals, with corrupt relatives and networks, is a diabolical and fossilised monster of the past. The new generation hate it with the eclectic, rainbow aspirations of the young, and they don’t want it in their existential, social and political lives anymore. They want a new Myanmar with a new dream.

That is why they are refusing to admit defeat. That is why young journalists are staking their lives to report from the underground, doctors are setting up underground clinics, urban guerillas have emerged in cities and towns, and youngsters are moving into border areas to join armed guerilla armies, even while all avenues of peaceful protests seem to have been shut, people have been shot dead on the streets, including scores of students, and hundreds are rotting in jail.

That is why the window, presently shut out to Myanmar should be reopened. The world must receive this epical narrative with an open mind. Myanmar is weaving many threads of multiple narratives of rebellion, resilience and liberation, amidst a brutal crackdown, against all odds. These stories must be told, re-told, written in text, and captured on camera. Especially in India, Myanmar’s neighbour, and friend, for decades. And, surely, also, all over the world.

(The author, a senior journalist has previously covered Myanmar after the coup).

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A minor Rohingya girl, a refugee from Myanmar, is set to be deported back to Myanmar, even as her parents are lodged in a refugee camp in Bangladesh. The 14-year-old girl was detained a few years ago and was handed over to a Silchar based NGO, Nivedita Nari Sangstha, reported The Assam Tribune. “The minor girl was handed over to the Assam Police by the NGO in the presence of the CWC. She was today taken to Moreh and will be handed over to the Myanmar authorities tomorrow,” sources told the newspaper.

She had requested the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to repatriate her to Bangladesh, instead of Myanmar, so she could be with her parents. However, her plea was not entertained. A Silchar police official said that repatriation protocol allows repatriation only to the person’s own country. Reportedly, since 2018, as many as 39 Rohingya nationals have been deported from Assam and currently there are 50 Rohingyas housed across Tezpur, Silchar and Goalpara detention camps.

This 14-year-old will be the first such Rohingya to be deported back to Myanmar since the military coup in the country.

The Civil Society Coalition for Human Rights and the United Nations recently issued a press statement urging that “it will be in the long-term national interest of lndia as well as larger cause of humanity to respect human rights of persecuted Myanmar nationals by opening up temporary camps in border areas and providing food, shelter, basic health care and other amenities”. It has requested the union government to offer asylum from persecution for Myanmar citizens despite not being a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention.

India has also sealed all entry points along its border with Myanmar to prevent refugees entering the country. Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga said that deportation was not acceptable to the state and said that he understands that some foreign policy issues require India to “proceed cautiously”, but “we cannot ignore this humanitarian crisis”. 

In early March, nearly 170 Rohingya refugees were detained by Jammu Police for not having valid documents. Reportedly, around 5,000-6,000 Rohingya have set up camps at various sites on the outskirts of Jammu over the past decade.

Related:

Manipur: CSCHR says gov’t must protect Myanmar citizens facing persecution
India seals all entry points along Myanmar border
What will become of Jammu’s Rohingya refugees?

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Image Courtesy: The Hindu

Ever since anti-Rohingya violence broke out in Myanmar, over 1 million people have fled their homes and sought refuge across the world. While the largest number of Rohingya refugees still live in Cox Bazaar in one of the world’s largest refugee camps, many have been granted the opportunity to stay in India. They have been rehabilitated in rehabilitated in Jammu, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Haryana and Rajasthan. Rohingyas have faced violence in three waves in 1978, 1991-92 and 2015 and are one of the largest ethnic groups in the world to face relentless persecution and displacement.

However, in wake of the Indian government’s decision to deport them back to Myanmar, where many people fear they will meet violence persecution and certain death, two Rohingya men moved court. The grounds for the petitions were the Indian commitment “to protect the life and liberty of every human being, whether citizen or not.” The petitions argue that deportation would violate India’s commitment to international conventions that recognise ‘Principle of Non-Refoulement’ i.e custom against deporting refugees to a country where they face a threat to their lives. According to their petitions 40,000 Rohingya were registered and recognised by the UNHCR in 2016 and granted refugee identity cards.

Senior Counsel Colin Gonsalves who appeared for one of the petitioners submitted that 60-70 percent of the Rohingya in India had already been given refugee cards and the rest were pending determination. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta insisted that it was important to decide if illegal immigrants can be granted refugee status before stopping the proposed deportation and allowing them community rights under the international law.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justice Aniruddha Bose were hearing the cases. The SC has agreed to examine the issue and the case has been adjourned to August.

The entire order may be read here: 

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Myanmar’s president released more than 6,000 prisoners on Tuesday, including two Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists imprisoned for reporting on a military crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine state.

Reuters reporters Wa Lone (left) and Kyaw Soe Oo, leaving prison in Myanmar on Tuesday. Ann Wang/EPA

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who work for the news organisation Reuters, were arrested in 2017 and, after a corrupt trial engineered by the military, sentenced to seven years in prison.

While the presidential pardon is welcome, there are still a number of serious, ongoing issues for freedom of expression and democracy in Myanmar. The influential military and its supporters in the government continue to work against press freedom in particular, waging what a UN human rights report referred to last year as a “political campaign against independent journalism.”

Why did the government release the prisoners now?

The pardon coincides with traditional New Year in Myanmar, which started on April 17. It is customary for government officials to release prisoners around this time.

It was also a way to at least partly ease the increasing international pressure on the Myanmar government. Foreign governments, NGOs, and international organisations have heavily criticised the government for its failure to protect freedom of the press, its record on human rights, the Rohingya crisis, and its scant progress on meaningful democratic reform.

But another way to look at the president’s decision to pardon Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo is as a balancing act. The ruling National League for Democracy must toe a careful line in terms of dealing with pressure from the West and appeasing the powerful military and the Burmese ethnic majority, who overwhelmingly support the military’s actions against the Rohingya.

As part of this balancing act, the party let the reporters spend 511 days in jail as a powerful deterrent against dissent, which was desired by the military. Then, the government commuted the sentence at the first opportunity it could in an attempt to please the West.

Does amnesty signal a real shift towards freedom of the press?

Probably not. Despite Tuesday’s pardon, many journalists are still imprisoned, including a prominent filmmaker and human rights activist who was imprisoned last month for allegedly defaming the army in a Facebook post.

Myanmar needs to undertake difficult reforms across many areas of its government if it is to truly improve freedom of the press.

First, legal reform is needed. Outdated laws like the Official Secrets Act and Unlawful Associations Act, which were originally legislated during the colonial era, remain on the books. A number of more recent laws are also used against journalists, particularly a section of the Telecommunications Law, which criminalises online defamation and impedes investigative reporting. These laws are broad and can be easily applied across poorly defined cases of defamation and sedition.

Efforts to repeal and reform these laws might be easier for the government if it were not for the influence of Myanmar’s military in political and legal processes.

Myanmar’s 2008 constitution guarantees the military a quarter of the seats in the upper and lower houses of Myanmar’s parliament. Amendments to the constitution require the approval of three-quarters of parliament, effectively giving the military veto power over constitutional reform.

In a recent effort, parliament voted to approve a committee to draft amendments to the constitution, but faced significant opposition from the military and the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. Thousands of demonstrators rallied on the streets of Yangon in support of the committee shortly after it was approved. The draft amendments the committee delivers will still have to get past the 75% vote threshold in parliament.

The judicial branch of Myanmar’s government also contains holdovers from the previous administration of President Thein Sein, a former general. For instance, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, which denied the final legal appeals of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo just last month, is a former Army officer. Three other judges are also appointees of Thein Sein.

Through these influential levers, the military is in a position to block any meaningful reforms and continue to use the legal system to silence those who challenge its continued political control of Myanmar.

For so long, Myanmar was closed off to the rest of the world. Now it is emerging as an influential country in the Indo-Pacific region. The Rohingya crisis and its threat to regional stability has elevated the need for free press coverage of important developments in Myanmar.

The rest of the world should continue to pressure Myanmar to improve its press freedom. It is needed now more than ever.

Courtesy: The Conversation

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Image Courtesy: UNHCR/Paula Bronstein

The presence in Bangladesh of more than 1million Rohingya has raised security concerns in the region and put pressure on the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She is also worried about the prospect of the sprawling camps at Cox’s Bazar near the Myanmar border becoming permanent settlements.

Bangladesh government has begun the process of repatriating Rohingya refugees who fled across the border from their homes in Myanmar during last year’s military crackdown. Refugees, Repatriation and Rehabilitation Commissioner Abul Kalam told the AP on Wednesday that 30 refugee families would be handed over Thursday at the Ghumdhum border point near Cox’s Bazar, where refugees have been living in crammed camps.

According to the AP news story, Mr. Abul Kalam claimed that they discussed the situation with the U.N.’s refugee agency, which gave a report after discussion with the refugees who are on the list. Details of the repot were not shared, but Kalam said they were “hopeful” of beginning the repatriation on Thursday. Kalam said that about 2,260 refugees from 485 families would be sent back in an initial group. Myanmar officials said recently that they would receive 150 refugees each day.

I have learnt from my contacts and Rohingya refugees based in Cox’s Bazaar that since November 14, Bangladesh army has surrounded Once Prank Refugee camp and Unchiprang refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar. They have forcefully taken some Rohingya refugee families to the transit camp. I have learnt that the list approved by Myanmar for repatriation include a number of Rohingya refugee families who are located in Jamtoli, Balukhali and Chakmarkul refugee camp. To escape repatriation more than a 100 heads of families have run away from the camp and are now hiding elsewhere hoping that the their families will not be repatriated in their absence. Bangladesh army and para-military forces have moved into the camps to prevent the heads of families from going into hiding. There are reports that ‘Majhis’, Bangladesh army appointed Rohingya community leaders, have been beaten up by army and security personnel for non-cooperation. It seems that some Hindu Rohingya families have already been taken to the transit camp by Bangladesh authorities. Rohingya refugees have said that they will not go back without rights, justice and UN security.

About 10 days ago, in the Once Prank Refugee camp Dil Mohammad, a 57 year old Rohingya refugee drank poison saying it was better to die than be forced to go back to Myanmar. Fortunately, he survived. On October 14, a Rohingya beef seller, Ziaul Hassan was brutally attacked in the Rakhine village of Nga Ching Pauk under Kyauktaw Township. He received serious cuts on his head. There is news from inside Rakhine state that last week Buddhist mobs were holding protest rallies against resettling Rohingya returnees in Rathidaung and southern Maungdaw region, which the Buddhist Rakhine have taken over since the forced expulsion of the Rohingya last year.

The UN fact-finding mission to Myanmar recently told the UN Security Council that the genocide in Rakhine is “ongoing”. Last week there were demonstrations by Rakhine nationalists against the return of the Rohingya. On November 13, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, on Tuesday urged Bangladesh to halt the plans, warning of further grave violations against the Muslim minority. She has further said, “We are witnessing terror and panic among those Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar who are at imminent risk of being returned to Myanmar against their will.” Non-governmental aid groups have also voiced concerns that the refugees would be sent home against their will, or moved permanently into camps. “The Rohingya have told us that they do eventually want to return to their homes and communities in Myanmar, but they want guarantees that they can enjoy equal rights and citizenship, and they want those responsible for the violence to be brought to justice,” said Evan Schuurman, a Melbourne-based official for Save the Children, the charity.

The presence in Bangladesh of more than 1million Rohingya has raised security concerns in the region and put pressure on the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She is also worried about the prospect of the sprawling camps at Cox’s Bazar near the Myanmar border becoming permanent settlements.

While the international community is against repatriation of the Rohingyas to Myanmar without equal citizenship rights and without assurance from Myanmar government for their safety and security, China, the most powerful nation in the region is opposes seeing the conflict internationalized. In the UN Security Council, it is opposing the push to prosecute Myanmar’s military and police officials responsible for the violence. Myanmar and Bangladesh, under pressure from China and other regional powers, signed a bilateral agreement on repatriation in November 2017.

India, the largest country in South Asia is also supporting Myanmar. India has declared all the 40,000 Rohingya refugees living in India as ‘illegal immigrant’ and has threatened to expel them. Indian government claims that the Rohingya Muslims are a potential threat to its national security as these people were vulnerable to the influence of Pakistan’s ISI and other Islamic jihadi groups. In September 2018, India expelled 7 Rohingya refugees and handed them over to Myanmar authorities. Though the Indian government had told the Indian Supreme Court that Myanmar had agreed to accept these persons as its citizens, Myanmar government has given them National Verification Certificate, which identify them as foreigners. They are now confined in concentration camp like situation in their village in Rakhine.
 
Myanmar’s government has said it would give returnees temporary accommodation in border camps and supply them with food, before allowing them to return to their homes. If their homes are no longer standing, they will be provided with newly built accommodation or be housed in the Hla Phoe Khaung transit camp near the border.

Nay San Lwin, a coordinator for the Free Rohingya Coalition said “If the Bangladesh government forces them, the Rohingyas will go into hiding. The repatriation will not happen voluntarily because nobody wants to go back.” He pointed out that there was no guarantee that the Rohingyas won’t be persecuted again, and there was no assurance for their citizenship, for their safety.

“The whole talk of repatriation is the Myanmar government’s way of distracting the world from mass atrocities committed by the army,” said Matthew Smith, founder and chief executive of Fortify Rights, a human rights group. “The reality is that there have been no tangible improvements for Rohingya rights in Myanmar.”
 

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Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s civilian leader and de facto president, is under fire from all sides. Domestically, she is facing growing criticism for stalled economic and political reforms, glacial progress on policy and service improvements, and the suppression of freedom of expression and press freedom.
 

Aung Sun Suu Kyi is now seen as an enabler of ethnic cleansing and genocide. Mick Tsikas/AAP

But it is her international reputation that is most in tatters.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate, imprisoned for 15 years over a 21-year period in her struggle for human rights and democracy, has suffered a swift and dramatic fall from grace as a global icon. She is now widely seen as an enabler of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

In just the last few days, Canada stripped Suu Kyi of her honorary citizenship and the Malaysian prime minister stated publicly that she has lost his support.

As the Brussels-based International Crisis Group put it recently:
 

Rarely has the reputation of a leader fallen so far, so fast.

Failures of Suu Kyi’s government

Suu Kyi has been the subject of much criticism since taking power 2½ years ago, but the most recent and vociferous condemnation has centred on two events: the jailing of two Reuters journalists who exposed a massacre of Rohingya civilians by the military, and her government’s failure to respond to international investigations into allegations of ethnic cleansing and genocide.

In September, the two Reuters journalists were convicted of possessing official secrets, despite testimony by a policeman that they had been entrapped.

The journalists had reported on a 2017 massacre of Rohingya Muslims by security forces, which resulted in the eventual conviction of seven soldiers for murder

It is notable that it was Suu Kyi’s civilian government that prosecuted the journalists, not the military. Suu Kyi could have ordered the charges dropped, as she did for student protesters during her early days in office. Instead, before the trial was over, she commented that the reporters were guilty of violating the Official Secrets Act, and once even allegedly referred to them as “traitors”.

Reuters journalists Wa Lone (center) and Kyaw Soe Oo (top left) are escorted by police after their first trial in January. Lynn Bo Bo/EPA

The second great disappointment has been the government’s response to the UN Human Rights Council’s report into the violence that drove almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh last year.

The report, released in full in September, found conclusive evidence that security forces had indeed engaged in mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya, with genocidal intent. It went on to accuse Suu Kyi and her government of contributing to the atrocities through “acts and omissions”.

The HRC recommended the UN Security Council refer the Myanmar commander-in-chief and five generals to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The UN Human Rights Council also set up a body to prepare evidence for trials.

Rather than pledge to cooperate with the investigation, however, Suu Kyi has consistently defended the military action against the Rohingya and repeatedly pointed to a lack of understanding of the complexities of the situation.

Her only concession to the increasing international condemnation of her government has been this muted statement:
 

There are, of course, ways in which, with hindsight, we might think that the situation could have been handled better.

Limitations on Suu Kyi’s power

The military remains a very powerful force in Myanmar. It has the power to appoint its own personnel to a quarter of the seats in parliament and oversees the three powerful ministries of Home Affairs, Defence and Border Affairs.

The government has no power to hold the military accountable for actions against the Rohingya. Suu Kyi is therefore in a very weak position.

She has nonetheless gone out of her way to not just defend the military, but praise it. In Singapore last month, she made headlines when she declared that the three generals in her cabinet were “rather sweet”.

Suu Kyi has stressed that her government’s aim of removing the military from politics would eventually be achieved through negotiation, keeping in mind the need for national reconciliation. However, her dream of constitutional reform depends entirely on military approval.

This would appear to inhibit any ability for her to censure the military. She also has no means to compel the military to cooperate with international investigators.

Around 700,000 Rohingya refugees have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since last year. Nyein Chan Naing/EPA
 

A path to redemption

Suu Kyi still has considerable moral authority within Myanmar, and the military is still widely unpopular. Thus, despite the severe limitations on her power, she does have other options to lead effectively on issues like human rights, the Rohingya and press freedom.

Suu Kyi and her government should start by recommitting themselves to a belief in universal human rights. She should also express empathy with the victims of the atrocities in Rakhine state, which may begin to shift popular opinion against the actions of the military and engender more public sympathy for the Rohingya.

Further, Suu Kyi needs to pledge full cooperation with the ICC investigation into the serious allegations of ethnic cleansing and genocide, and call for a genuinely independent domestic inquiry to pave the way towards true reconciliation.

Suu Kyi may not be able to compel military cooperation with the ICC investigation, or even unfettered access to the country for investigators. But drawing on her moral authority could go a long way to help. She could pave the way for visas and travel approval, for instance, both of which were denied to investigators by her government.

Finally, the government must develop robust, urgent repatriation plans for the Rohingya – in cooperation with Bangladesh and the UN – that guarantee their security, human rights, a pathway to full citizenship and an end to segregation in Rakhine. They need a plan for inclusive development policies in the state, and to restore both media freedoms and humanitarian access to the region.

The opportunity for such moral leadership is quickly evaporating.

Suu Kyi and her government were elected by a landslide in 2015, winning about 80% of seats up for election. Polling released last week showed that only about half those surveyed believe the rights of people have improved in the 2½ years that she has been in power and less than half the population feel there has been any political or economic improvement.

There have also been increasing complaints about the performance of the government.

With her support eroding both home and abroad, Suu Kyi appears to have a limited window to adequately address the Rohingya crisis and regain her moral authority. Otherwise, Myanmar risks slipping back into isolation and again becoming a pariah state.
 

Anthony Ware, Senior Lecturer in International & Community Development, Deakin University and Costas Laoutides, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, Deakin University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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