Thammasat University students interested in Myanmar, ASEAN studies, history, political science, international affairs, and related subjects may find it useful to participate in a free 27 February Zoom webinar, Two Years and Counting: What’s Next for Myanmar in 2023?
The event, on Monday, 27 February 2023 at 9am Bangkok time, is presented by ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore.
The TU Library collection includes several books about different aspects of Myanmar history and politics.
The event webpage explains:
About the Webinar
At the two-year mark of the 2021 coup in Myanmar, on 1 February, solemn commemorations and commentaries have discussed Myanmar’s dimmed future and uncertain trajectory. Both the State Administration Council (SAC) and the resistance against it have reiterated determination to pursue their stated paths. Myanmar is currently under a third extension of the SAC’s term and the nationwide state of emergency. The SAC has reorganised its cabinet, and committed to push ahead with its election plans.
Beyond the current situation, what are the broader impacts of the ongoing crisis on the people? How much does Myanmar matter to the region and the world? What are some ramifications of the continuing conflict to watch out for in 2023? Five experts will discuss these questions, including domestic sentiments and regional and international interests, and whether 2023 may bring any change of course by the different stakeholders.
Students are invited to register at this link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_21IFGEg-QneBmYWKA5rIew
The speakers will include Khin Zaw Win, Director of Tampadipa Institute in Yangon, Myanmar. As his LinkedIn profile explains,
My organization, Tampadipa Institute has been working on policy advocacy and capacity building since 2006. It was the first domestic voice for the lifting of sanctions. Also on health care (particularly HIV/AIDS), conflict resolution, agriculture and rural development and foreign relations. It has also facilitated food security activities in the post-cyclone Nargis recovery period. At present, facilitating inputs for bodies of the new state, particularly Parliament, with a view to institution building and lobbying. A guest speaker programme for a parliamentary caucus has been running since 2013. Member of the Land Core Group, a network based in Yangon.
With the stated intention of nurturing features of democracy that seem to be glossed over in present-day Myanmar – facets like pluralism, inclusiveness, recognition of minority views and a multi-party system – Tampadipa has established relations with a broad range of political parties.
TI has been carrying out public pre-consultations on the draft national land use policy since Nov 2014. It is perhaps the first of its kind in Myanmar, and represents an open, public, democratic process. A lot of people tend to talk a lot about democracy and think elections and parliaments are everything. This process epitomizes grassroots democratic practice.
Also occupied with explaining and helping overcome the long-standing situation of a country caught in political stasis, unbalanced development, unending armed conflict and geopolitical rivalry.
At present, Tampadipa Institute focuses on –
Analyses of the current Myanmar situation;
Land, rural development and poverty;
Religious issues within Buddhism and in its relations with other religions;
Ethnic issues and federalism;
Myanmar’s relations with neighbouring countries esp. China and India, and with the US and countries in Europe.
(It will be apparent that the above issues have an impact on peace and security).
Other speakers will include Anthony Davis, a security analyst and consultant with field experience of a range of armed conflicts across Asia; Show Ei Ei Tun, an advocate, practitioner and analyst in driving inclusive economic and political reform agendas and processes in Myanmar; Lina Alexandra, Head of the Department of International Relations, Centre of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta, Indonesia; and Associate Professor Mary Callahan, who teaches International Studies at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, at the University of Washington, the United States of America.
The TU Library collection includes several books by Associate Professor Mary Callahan.
Earlier this month, on the website of the International Press Institute (IPI), a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, an article was posted, headlined:
Two years after military coup, international community must support Myanmar’s independent media.
It read in part:
The IPI global network calls on the international community to renew its support for press freedom in Myanmar. Two years since the military took power in a violent coup d’état, and despite extraordinary resilience and courage by the country’s media, the state of press freedom remains in peril. The international community must act with urgency to support the country’s remaining independent media outlets and pressure the military junta to end its deadly assault on journalists and democracy.
Following its democracy-crushing coup on February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military has carried out an unrelenting media crackdown to silence journalists and restrict access to information. The military junta has shuttered multiple independent outlets, repeatedly blocked access to the internet and mobile data, and restricted content on websites and social media platforms. Numerous journalists have been forced to work into exile, and those who remain in Myanmar risk their life and safety to report the news. Journalists face daily harassment and prosecution and face the risk of military searches and raids, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture, and imprisonment. Myanmar has become the third-worst jailer of journalists globally, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). According to the IPI Database of Killed Journalists, four journalists in Myanmar have been killed since February 2021, all suspectedly at the hands of the junta.
In a media briefing on February 7, 2023, organized by IPI, Soe Myint, the founding editor-in-chief and managing Director of Mizzima Media Group, said that despite the ongoing violence and limited international support, independent media in Myanmar will continue to figure out ways to operate and report what is occurring in Myanmar to the world. “Myanmar’s independent media has not only survived the coup, but we now see audience numbers far higher than before the coup, with a strong network of operations across the country”, said Myint, who underscored that the junta only controls part of the country’s territory. “Independent media and independent journalists are supposed to disappear, supposed to be killed, and supposed to stop… but two years after, we are able to do more than what we did even before the coup. This is resilience.” […]
Another article posted on the IPI website this month observed in part:
As Myanmar’s bloody coup ticks over into its third year, local journalists continue to struggle to sustain and build independent media voices in support of democracy both inside the country and in the growing refugee diaspora.
It’s an evolving ecosystem depending on an underground network, including citizen journalists, philanthropic support, experimentation in distribution and voices — and raw courage in the face of a violent oppression by the Tatmadaw military junta.
The military broke the old system.
“I didn’t want to give up this job. But since the coup, journalists can’t report freely and have to worry about their and their relatives’ safety. So I had to flee.” says a young woman print and TV reporter, now in Thailand.
Journalists were among the first to be hunted down after the military coup, led by General Min Aung Hlaing on February 1, 2021, along with opposition politicians, social workers and activists. In the two years since, four journalists — all working in local media or as freelancers — have been killed and 145 arrested. About 60 remain in detention.
It effectively dismantled the network of democratic media that had spread across the country over the previous decade. Instead, the Myanmar junta became the world’s biggest jailer of journalists relative to population. The Committee for the Protection of Journalists listed Myanmar as the eighth worst country worldwide for impunity for crimes against journalists.
An independent media emerges
Still, the military’s attempts to control the media landscape did not stop a surge in independent outlets and content creation. This period also observed a decrease in popularity of state-controlled media.
Two years after the coup, the top media by audience remain the trusted four: BBC Burmese, Mizzima, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and Voice of America (VOA).
(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)