• OPINION

  More trouble for Myanmar

  News, Editorial, Published on 07/01/2019

  » New, deadly fighting has broken out in Myanmar's most troubled state. It's not the army and police attacking defenceless Rohingya this time, but the Arakan Army (AA), a Buddhist force demanding greater regional autonomy. The Arakan Army renewed its decades-old "war" on the central government last year. On Friday, in the most deadly attacks admitted by the Nay Pyi Taw government to date, the AA attacked four Rakhine province police posts. They killed 13 policemen, wounded nine others and apparently suffered no casualties.

• OPINION

  Myanmar tragedy

  News, Editorial, Published on 23/01/2018

  » A pair of highly respected envoys are to arrive in Myanmar today, and it is hoped the government and army are ready to listen. Top priority for ex-foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai and the former US ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, is the fate of two Reuters reporters who face trial on absurd national security charges. Myanmar has already asked the Thai and American experts for help with their self-made crisis over the Rohingya of Rakhine state.

• OPINION

  Myanmar must open up

  News, Editorial, Published on 04/07/2017

  » Myanmar authorities continue to take actions that ultimately harm both the country and its image. Last week, the army, which is behind the times in helping the country to democracy, arrested three journalists for doing their jobs. Then the government, which should know better, issued a defiant statement that it was banning all United Nations investigators. There was no good reason for either action, and they are black marks on democracy hero Aung San Suu Kyi's government.

• OPINION

  Myanmar abuses rights

  News, Editorial, Published on 15/11/2016

  » The Myanmar government in recent weeks and days has either lost the plot or lost control. There seems no possible third explanation. The two most egregious events have been a vicious and murderous military offensive in western Rakhine state and a media crackdown of a type not seen since the dreadful days of Slorc rule. Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has gone missing on the political front, while neighbours and friends are losing faith in her government.

• OPINION

  Myanmar's shirked duty

  News, Editorial, Published on 08/10/2018

  » Last Thursday, police arrested two men in Ayutthaya for possession of drugs. They were driving a pickup with 700 one-kilogramme bags of crystal methamphetamine, a so-called recreational drug without medical or social value.

• OPINION

  The fight against drugs

  Oped, Editorial, Published on 19/09/2023

  » It should be good news that the Srettha government will make the fight against narcotics part of the national agenda. Announced on Sunday by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, the news has garnered mixed reactions, especially among human rights activists, which is understandable.

• OPINION

  Defending the indefensible

  News, Editorial, Published on 19/09/2018

  » The conversion of Aung San Suu Kyi from human rights champion to defender of military violence has been painful to watch. The Myanmar leader capped her change last week. At a UN-sponsored conference in Hanoi, she sloughed off questions about the brutal expulsion of 700,000 Rohingya, who now are refugees. Shockingly, she defended the imprisonment of two Myanmar reporters by praising a law written by colonialists to intimidate and punish her own country's citizens.

• OPINION

  ICC's leap in the dark

  Oped, Editorial, Published on 10/09/2018

  » The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has issued a clear and compelling case against Myanmar -- both its armed forces and its leaders. A UN-ordered investigation of the Rohingya tragedy is described unequivocally and credibly as genocidal. The UNHRC says government and army then tried to cover up crimes by multiple fabrications. It specifically names Sen Gen Min Aung Hlaing, the commander of the armed forces (tatmadaw) and the national leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

• OPINION

  Surakiart has a tough task

  News, Editorial, Published on 05/02/2018

  » The Myanmar government continues to dig itself into deeper trouble over the crisis it created with the Rohingya. Worse, it is rapidly creating an atmosphere of belligerence. There seems plenty of means available to discuss and solve the situation via talks with neighbours and the international community. Instead, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the nation's military have only become more isolated.

• OPINION

  Resettlement plan a sham

  News, Editorial, Published on 13/12/2017

  » Myanmar's government has unveiled a plan to repatriate Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh. In essence, the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, in what is known as a "phased return", will allow some returnees, beginning early next year, but not to their original villages, homes and land. It will build camps to "resettle" the Rohingya indefinitely. As the United Nations' refugee organisation and key international groups have said, the plan is unacceptable.

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