Coronavirus informational signboards vandalised in Mrauk-U Twsp

By Kyaw Chit 22 Oct 2020

Kyaw Chit | DMG
22 October 2020, Sittwe 

Forty-two signboards containing information about COVID-19 were erected this month in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township, where internet access is poor, but a local youth activist says a handful of the boards have already been vandalised.  

Ko Moe Zaw, a Mrauk-U Youth Association central committee member, said there had been destruction of some of the COVID-19 signboards.  

“Three posters have been destroyed and two were badly damaged. One is from Kan Hla Ward, one is from Alae Zay junction, and another one is near the Alae Zay Bridge,” he said. 

Of the three destroyed signboards, two were erected by the Mrauk-U Youth Association on October 9 and the other was installed by the COVID-19 Prevention and Control Committee on October 15, according to sources. 

“We would like to request not to destroy these signboards because we don’t have internet access and we have erected them with sincere goodwill for the people in Mrauk-U to get awareness about the disease. We have constructed these signboards after accepting much assistance from other people,” said Ko Moe Zaw. 

He added that it was difficult to take legal action because the identity of the vandal or vandals was unknown. 

The Mrauk-U Youth Association said it will fix the damaged signboards and replace those that were destroyed. 

Several townships in Arakan State are denied the high-speed, 4G internet access that most of Myanmar enjoys. The government has restricted internet access in the affected townships since June 21, 2019, starting with an outright ban and restoring a degree of connectivity in August of this year, when 2G access was granted.  

The inferior mobile internet — described as effectively useless by critics of the government’s Arakan State internet policy — makes even basic web browsing difficult for users, thus prompting the COVID-19 informational signboards in Mrauk-U. 

The Rakhine Ethnic Congress has been distributing radios at camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) as these populations also struggle to obtain information about COVID-19. 

The number of IDPs in Arakan State has reportedly surpassed 226,000 due to nearly two years of fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army.