Clashes in Myanmar trigger exodus to Thailand

Thailand is concerned about the situation in Myanmar after the military junta lost control of a strategic city on the Thai border. After days of fighting with resistance forces, the army has withdrawn from the commercial center of Myawaddy. A steady stream of people are trying to flee the country.

Myanmar's armed resistance movement: A threat to the junta? • FRANCE 24 ...

FRANCE 24’s Constantin Simon filmed this week's exclusive Reporters show on the young people in Myanmar who are taking up arms against the ruling junta.

Myanmar - How the Chin are fighting the Junta

After the military coup in Myanmar in 2021, the Chin ethnic minority took up arms. The Chin people are fighting to defend their territory, their identity, and their democratic principles against the junta. In the mountains in the remote west of Myanmar, a bitter war is raging. The Chin, a primarily Christian minority, still control most of the area after putting up a fierce resistance against the Myanmar military.

High-risk news coverage: Reporting the crackdown in Myanmar

 

Myanmar’s military leaders are deploying forces, both armed and digital, to stifle news coverage. Plus, partisan punditry on Britain’s airwaves.

As military leaders ban independent media and arrest reporters, citizen journalists become an information lifeline in Myanmar.

How To Improve Your Dictatorship: Give Policing Powers To The Army

The junta in Thailand feeling threatened by who knows what have decided to give the Thai military policing powers which furthers strengthens its power.  One must remember that dissent is unwelcome in authoritarian states.

Maybe the military can arrest half of the Thai population they feel threatened by. Or, like the Eastern German Stasi they could recruit half of the people to spy on the other half.


   Soldiers from the rank of sub-lieutenant and higher will now be allowed to prevent or suppress 27 types of offences, including crimes against public peace, defamation, gambling, extortion, and labour abuses. They will also be allowed in some cases to search property without a warrant.

The military is now authorised to seize assets, suspend financial transactions and ban suspects from travelling.

Colonel Piyapong Klinphan, a spokesman for the junta, said the order was implemented to prevent crimes that pose a danger to public order.

Thailand is a longtime US ally but relations have soured since prime minister Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha came to power in a 2014 coup. His “interim” administration has promised to hold elections although they are not planned until at least mid-2017.

Under army-rule, civil liberties have been cracked down on with arrest of dissidents, reporters and politicians. Last week, the junta banned Thai journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk from attending a press freedom event in Finland.