Regime steps up propaganda campaign aimed at triggering racial strife

By Admin 31 May 2024

DMG Newsroom
31 May 2024, Sittwe

Junta lobbyists have stepped up their propaganda campaign against the Arakkha Army (AA) on the grounds of race and religion, reported Burma Affairs & Conflict Study (BACS).

Junta lobbyists used Telegram channels to spread hate speech targeting the AA, publishing at least 71 posts from May 18 to May 24 that accuse the ethnic armed group of slaughtering Muslims and being involved in the illicit drugs trade.

“Junta lobbyists are making counter-accusations that the AA is committing genocide against Muslims out of national chauvinism. They are instigating to exacerbate conflicts between the Muslim and Arakanese communities, and between Muslims and the AA,” says the BACS report.

Pro-junta Telegram channels have shared and amplified incendiary posts, accusing the AA of torching Muslim villages and slaughtering Muslims.

They have also claimed that the AA suffered heavy casualties in the fighting in Arakan State, and that tensions were running high between the AA on one side and the ethnic Chin people and ethnic Chin revolutionary organisations on the other, over the AA’s seizure and control of Paletwa Township in Chin State.

Politicians have called for caution as the regime has resorted to inciting racial conflict in Arakan State, which was battered by inter-communal violence in 2012 and 2017.

“The wicked regime will go to extremes. They are trying to create racial and religious strife to win the battle. We must exercise caution to prevent ourselves from falling into their trap,” said an Arakanese politician.

The regime has mainly used Telegram to spread propaganda since the 2021 coup, according to the BACS.

Several pro-junta Telegram channels including Min Chit Oo, Rakhine Day, Mayu Local, Ko Thant, Mayu Agora, Arakan’s Voice, Western 24 News, Dororwaddy Media are involved in the junta’s propaganda campaign in Arakan State.

Every day, those channels accuse Development Media Group (DMG), Narinjara, Western News and Border News Agency — which report regularly on the junta’s human rights violations across Myanmar and particularly in Arakan State — of spreading false news.

“Junta lobbyists keep local news agencies and activists in Arakan State under constant surveillance. They are using many Telegram channels to spread propaganda. Lately, their propaganda campaign is aimed at inciting racial conflicts,” said a journalist from Arakan State.

The AA has seized Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Pauktaw, Minbya, Myebon, Ramree townships in Arakan State and Paletwa Township in neighbouring Chin State.

Junta lobbyists are also conducting a propaganda campaign against the Kachin Independence Army, which is fighting the regime in northern Myanmar, said BACS.