Editorial: Help Don’t Hinder Aid to Post-Cyclone Arakan State

Admin 27 Jun 2023

Hundreds of thousands of houses were either damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Mocha, which hit Arakan State on May 14. The vast majority of storm victims are still struggling to rise from the wreckage.

Sittwe, Pauktaw, Rathedaung and Kyauktaw townships were hit hardest by the storm, which was also felt strongly in Myebon and Mrauk-U townships.

However, relief efforts by international aid agencies and local civil society organisations have been severely hampered by junta travel restrictions.

Following its failed talks...

Editorial: A Time for Aid

Admin 19 May 2023

A land ever in the midst of storms, Arakan State now reels from the latest, Cyclone Mocha, which slammed into the Arakan coast on May 14. Telecommunications links have been spotty at best in the days since, leading to delays in communicating and understanding the extent of the devastation. 

Editorial: Arakan State Has a Drugs Problem

Admin 22 Apr 2023

There is a growing demand for illicit narcotics among people in Arakan State. The ranks of Arakan State’s drug users has grown and its average age has gotten younger; indeed, it is not uncommon these days to see children as young as 12 or 13 years old using illicit narcotics. 

Editorial: What Does a ‘Humanitarian Truce’ Mean?

DMG 11 Dec 2022

At least 594 people were detained by the Myanmar military during that period. At least 59 others were detained by the AA, and the number of people displaced by the fighting topped 230,000 by August 2020.

Editorial: Let Our Social Workers Do Their Work

DMG 12 Nov 2022

The regime has turned its back on the people, as it is busy trying to maintain its grip on power. Making matters worse, it has warned social organisations against soliciting donations for internally displaced people (IDPs), restricted the humanitarian operations of international nongovernmental organisations and local charities, and detained and prosecuted several members of social and aid groups. 

Editorial: A Medical Morass Afflicts Arakan State

DMG 10 Oct 2022

Rural residents in Arakan State are thus experiencing more health problems since the military junta cut off supply routes amid renewed fighting between its troops and the Arakan Army (AA) over recent months. 

Editorial: Mrauk-U Must Not Become Collateral Damage

DMG 07 Sep 2022

It was followed by fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) in 2019. Some town residents were killed by artillery strikes, others died in military custody, and some went missing during approximately two years of fighting that ended in late 2020. Sadly, there were also cases in which town residents died in AA custody.

Editorial: Protecting Myanmar’s Workers Is a Full-Time Job

DMG 09 Aug 2022

Add to that the relative stability of commodity prices in Thailand compared with Myanmar, and it is little wonder that millions of Myanmar workers find living circumstances across the border to be cheaper and more lucrative, and seek jobs there accordingly.  

Editorial: Added ‘Security’ Delays Commodity Flows, Causes Food Insecurity in Arakan State

DMG 15 Jul 2022

Geographically, Arakan State is separated from mainland Myanmar by the Arakan Roma mountain range. Because the state today does not produce enough food for its own population and relies on the mainland for many other goods as well, consumers in Arakan State are at the mercy of the efficiency of transportation networks that connect Myanmar proper and its west coast. 

Editorial: Arakan State’s Farmers Need Support

DMG 09 Jun 2022

The Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank, meanwhile, has not disbursed agricultural loans to farmers who have not repaid their debts from last year. But as of late April, only 7 percent of Arakan State farmers had paid back the agricultural loans that they took out in 2021, according to the state branch of the Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank. This crimping of the agriculture financing spigot is an obvious contributing factor to the exodus of farmers in Arakan State.

Editorial: Who is responsible for protecting the lives and property of Arakan’s people?

DMG 12 Apr 2022

From the time of independence to the time of the current military coup junta, many Burmese leaders have failed to show goodwill toward Arakan State and the Arakanese people. Successive leaders have exploited Arakan State, and Arakan State has been paid only as part of the Union. Ethnic groups continue to suffer from inequalities in state and divisional budget allocations.

Editorial: All Quiet on the Western Front?

DMG 10 Feb 2022

Fast-forward to 2022, and it is much of the rest of Myanmar that is roiled by conflict and tragedy, while Arakan State has seen almost none of the violence between the military regime and anti-junta forces that has been an almost daily occurrence since the coup on February 1, 2021. A casual observer might even describe this as a period of relative peace for Arakan State — but it is, if anything, an uneasy peace at best. 

Editorial: Clear-Eyed and Unbowed, DMG Enters Its Second Decade

05 Jan 2022

In any given nation, there will be government and the governed. That is why the role of the press, a nation’s fourth pillar, first emerged. The term “fourth pillar” (aka “fourth estate”) refers to a hoped-for equal standing among the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government and the media, all of which are tasked with working for the benefit of the people. 

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