This tweet was written by a Myanmar Government official who is clearly defending the government when it comes to the Rohingya crisis. There have been many genocides in Rohingya prominent areas in Myanmar, as well as other violent crimes. The Myanmar has made efforts to detach themselves from the attacks, however many activists are pointing fingers. The tweet was written by Zaw Htay, a member of the State Counsellor Officer in the Myanmar government. He wrote “Myanmar strongly objects use of such words as “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide” in reference to the situation in Rakhine State”. In the wake of pointing fingers, Zaw Htay is attempting to easy activists.

However, considering his affiliation with the government, and the mistrust with the government, can it be trusted that the Myanmar government does not support violence against Rohingya people?

Myanmar strongly objects use of such words as “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide” in reference to the situation in Rakhine State: Permanent Representative to UN https://t.co/pjQzu9MsIV

— Zaw Htay (@ZawHtayMyanmar) April 18, 2018

This tweet was written by an activist in Myanmar who strongly advocates for the Rohingya people. The Rohingya population is incredibly impoverished in Myanmar, and to the government, are unrecognized as a part of Myanmar. There have been a number of violent war crimes against the Rohingya people, including genocide. The majority of the Rohingya people are Muslim, therefore it can be argued that there is a racial/ religious dispute between the two populations. The activist’s name on Twitter is: MrMaung KoThet. They wrote “The government in mostly-Buddhist Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal migrants from Bangladesh and does not recognise the term”. This tweet relates to the fact that the Myanmar government does not recognize the Rohingya people, even though they live in Myanmar.

What majority of the population agrees with MrMaung KoThet? Is it just the government and their supporters who believe they are illegal immigrants? or is it a select few activists?

 

The government in mostly-Buddhist Myanmar regards the Rohingya as illegal migrants from Bangladesh and does not recognise the term https://t.co/OTWie5agkq

— MrMaung KoThet (@MrMaungKoThet) November 14, 2017

The blog titled ‘Some opposition organizations are slamming Tatmadaw by all means to tarnish prestige image’ by Win Htut, a writer for the Burmese Eleven Media Group, wrote about the Myanmar Armed Forced Day parade, and the multiple protests the occurred on the day of the parade. Myanmar had a past of terrible military regimes that consistently punished its citizens. However, in recent years there have been open elections in order to elect the new democratic leaders of the country. Despite these free elections, there are still hard feelings towards the military throughout the country. The oppositions position was made known especially on Armed Forces Day. The military, called Tatmadaw, has worked to improve their image to the public. The goal of these protests, according to Win Htut, were to place distrust between the Tatmadaw and the citizens, and to rid the Tatmadaw of unity. However, according to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the protests created better unity among the Tatmadaw. Win Htut went on to provide more quotes from Senior General Min Aung Hlaing describing the unity and prestige of the Tatmadaw.

Win Htut did not have a clear opinion regarding the protests and the words of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, however, the Senior General was obviously incredibly biased towards the Tatmadaw. My question is: Despite the improvement of the Tatmadaw and their demeanor, why is there still some skepticism towards the military?

http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/politics/13639

The inability to expose the corruption within our country is astounding. Self-censorship is rampant due to the continued wave of fear among journalists and citizens. Just within the last two weeks, give journalists were sent to trial and sentenced to 10 year long prison terms, all for exposing a chemical weapons factory run by the Myanmar government. Two more reporters were arrested for exposing the murder of 10 Muslims. It is beyond apparent that there is a need for proper exposure in order to avoid prosecution. I have sparked interest in creating a group of individuals who will create fake Facebook pages under the names of the journalists who have been sentenced to prison for exposing the government. In these fake Facebook pages, we will repost the articles that were censored, with hopes of creating more attention to the issues. We will attempt to log into these accounts on different locations in order to avoid being tracked. These issues need to be brought to light, and we will do whatever it takes to do so.

 

http://www.phillytrib.com/news/myanmar-under-suu-kyi-cracks-down-on-journalists/article_900df975-b759-5fa2-85af-431e8dc713af.html

Article: https://psmag.com/social-justice/myanmar-is-cracking-down-on-the-media

This article discusses the severe prosecution of journalists and press freedom advocates throughout Myanmar. A decade ago, Myanmar was considered the most restricted country in the world when in comes to freedom of the press and media. Journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe appeared in court for violating a British Colonial law (the Official Secrets Act), where they may face 14 years in prison. The reason for imprisonment is due to the coverage of the brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine State, and forcing them into Bangladesh. This is described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” The new deputy information minister, Aung Hla Tun, who monitors coverage on the issues involved in the country by saying “the greatest responsibility of media today in Myanmar is safeguarding our national image.” Therefore, the issue with media and freedom of the press roots with the problems of governance, and the hope to not soil the image of Myanmar to the rest of the world. If the issues revolving the exile Muslims, and other oppressive acts, were nonexistent, there would be no reason to monitor the media and the press. The solution is not within the resolution of freedom of media and press, but much deeper into the systematic oppression among its citizens.