Reporters from Arakan State-based Western News went into hiding earlier this month after junta forces attempted to find the location of the news outlet’s office in Sittwe. DMG recently spoke to the chief editor of Western News, Wunna Khwar Nyo, about the incident and its implications for press freedom in Arakan State and beyond.

DMG recently interviewed U Aung Khin, a Muslim teacher of English whose students attend classes at the Mratazaung monastic education school in Mrauk-U Township. The interfaith classroom dynamics are not to be taken for granted in Arakan State, where a history of sometimes fraught relations between Buddhists and Muslims is well documented. 

It had been about a year without hostilities between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) when the informal ceasefire appeared to crack on November 9, with the two sides clashing briefly in northern Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township. While tens of thousands of people internally displaced by the conflict (IDPs) have returned home since the fighting stopped in November 2020, many more remain displaced. By and large, they have viewed the relative peace of the past year with cautious optimism, but are still fearful of going back to their hometowns and villages for a variety of reasons. 

The junta’s State Administration Council (SAC) on November 1 promulgated the Second Amendment Law to the Television and Radio Broadcasting Law. For a variety of offences, the amended law stipulates harsher penalties, including prison sentences that did not exist under the previous iteration of the legislation. It also broadens the scope of the law’s remit so that its provisions can be applied to media made available via the internet or “any other technology”. DMG interviewed six media professionals about the recently amended law.

Under Myanmar’s military regime, the prices of basic foodstuffs and commodities have risen sharply amid a significant weakening of the kyat against the US dollar and rising gold prices. DMG spoke to a cross-section of voices in Arakan State about the challenges presented by the rising prices.  

The Burmese soldiers told the visitors to get out of the crowd. After I got out of the crowd, the Burmese soldiers ordered me to stay in the hot sun for two or three hours. The Burmese soldiers tortured me many times, leaving me in the hot sun. Then, they tied my hands behind my back and a Burmese soldier asked me, ‘Did you see Arakan Army (AA) fighters entering the village?’ I replied that I had never seen Arakan Army fighters, and he said that I was lying. The Burmese soldier told me not to lie.  

Dr. Khin Khin Gyi, director of the Public Health Awareness Division of the Department of Public Health under the Ministry of Health, recently spoke to Development Media Group (DMG) about the state of the pandemic’s ongoing third wave in Myanmar and the threat posed by the highly contagious Delta variant. 

The Central Bank of Myanmar has ordered that all banks in Myanmar suspend operations from August 16-22, the latest extension of a weeks-long public holiday period as part of the military regime’s efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19. The public holidays have been announced week after week beginning in mid-July, but this week marks the first in which private banks have been included in the order.

Locals are questioning whether a security checkpoint near the 540^th Infantry Battalion in Mrauk-U, which was set up during heavy fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army in Arakan State, should be removed. Motorcyclists have to dismount at the checkpoint to undergo inspection, and locals complain that all car and van passengers have to register and provide the details of their destination, and when they will return. 

U Hla Thein, information officer for the Arakan State Administration Council, wrote on his Facebook on July 22 that a decision was made at a meeting of the Arakan State military council to distribute oxygen produced by an oxygen generator in Mrauk-U to public hospitals in accordance with the local government’s policy. Some people have since criticised the statement on Facebook, over whether the military council rightfully controls the oxygen production in Mrauk-U. 

The district currently has the highest number of Covid-19 cases and fatalities in Arakan State. 

A youth group in Sittwe pioneered the idea, opening a mobile library in the Arakan State capital last month. Since then, more bookmobiles have popped up in other Arakan State townships. With DMG being an unabashedly pro-reading organisation as well, we recently interviewed Ko Nyein Chan, a member of the Sittwe youth group, about their current activities and challenges to opening and sustaining mobile libraries.

Basic education schools in Paletwa Township, Chin State, have been temporarily closed since June 9 after a cluster of COVID-19 infections were reported there in recent days.  

The recent arrest of seven Taungup Township youths, reportedly over alleged ties to the Arakan Army, served to highlight the legal ambiguity that surrounds the ethnic armed group, and raised anew questions about whether there are legal consequences for affiliating with it. After the military regime removed the Arakan Army from its list of terrorist groups in March, it was hoped that the dozens of court cases accusing defendants of illegal AA links would be dismissed, but acquittals and dropped charges have occurred in a piecemeal fashion to date.  

The imposition of a nighttime curfew over recent days in some Arakan State townships has prompted questioning among locals, coming at a time when an informal ceasefire between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army has brought a peace to the region not seen in more than two years. DMG interviewed residents, civil society organisations and the Arakan State military council to glean their thoughts on the curfew orders, which have been applied selectively across Arakan State’s 17 townships.

DMG recently interviewed farmers and civil society organisations to find out the challenges they  are facing in Arakan State during the current monsoon paddy-growing season.

Fierce fighting between the Myanmar military and a People’s Defense Force has been ongoing in Kayah State since May 20. The fighting is taking place in cities and villages, forcing more than 50,000 locals to flee. Due to a lack of camps for internally displaced people (IDPs), civilians are fleeing to the mountains and border areas. Local civil society groups say the refugees are in dire need of shelter and food, as well as medical care because pregnant women are among those fleeing. DMG spoke to a local woman in Loikaw, Kayah State, about these problems.

With more than 100 days having passed since the military coup on February 1, DMG spoke to civil society and political leaders, activists and businesspeople about the toll that the new reality under Tatmadaw rule has taken on an Arakan State economy already badly bruised by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Residents of Tinma village in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, were displaced by fighting between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army in March of last year. Hundreds of houses in the village were burnt to the ground after the villagers fled the hostilities. For more than a year, the village sat deserted.