Episode: KPN 08-08-2022
New evidence shows how Myanmar’s military planned the Rohingya purge – Part Three In February 2017, the military declared the operations over. But hostility towards the Rohingya continued. In July […]
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New evidence shows how Myanmar’s military planned the Rohingya purge – Part Four
Fear and remorse
Even as Rohingya poured into Bangladesh in 2017 bringing stories of mass killings and rape, many media outlets inside Myanmar echoed government propaganda, portraying the military crackdown as a legitimate campaign against “extremist Bengali terrorists.” Many Burmese also rallied behind the authorities in the face of allegations of ethnic cleansing and war crimes by the international community.
But long-held prejudices have begun to change in response to the military coup of early 2021 and the violence unleashed by the junta as it tried to quell growing resistance across the country – violent repression usually reserved for ethnic areas. Many Burmese have apologized on social media for ignoring the plight of minorities.
One academic study of social media posts after the coup found perceptions towards minorities, including the Rohingya, had shifted. While Rohingya activists say anti-Muslim sentiment persists in Myanmar, the study found there were fewer negative posts and more voices pleading for an inclusive society.
Sasa, a spokesman for the newly formed civilian parallel government, said it was only after the coup that “the people have come to understand and accept the true nature of the military, and their unfathomable disregard for human rights.”
Sasa, who goes by one name, added: “Those who previously doubted the military’s victims are eager to apologize.”
The military junta didn’t respond to questions from Reuters.
Some journalists who once toed the official line are expressing remorse over how they covered the purge in 2017. Moe Myint, an ethnic Rakhine journalist formerly with The Irrawaddy news website in Myanmar, told Reuters he traveled to Rakhine during the military crackdown but censored his reporting, in part for fear of a public backlash.
“I regret some situations, I had to consider my safety, and then I was unable to publish all the issues that happened in Rakhine state. We are never reluctant to publish stories as long as they have been thoroughly verified and the reporter’s safety is not threatened.”
Moe Myint, and , an editor at the Irrawaddy
“I regret some situations,” said Moe Myint, who left Myanmar for exile in the United States after the coup, fearing he would be arrested as part of a media crackdown by the junta. “I had to consider my safety, and then I was unable to publish all the issues that happened in Rakhine state.”
In response to questions, an editor at the Irrawaddy said: “We are never reluctant to publish stories as long as they have been thoroughly verified and the reporter’s safety is not threatened.”
In September 2017, Moe Myint joined a tour organized by authorities to a village just outside Maungdaw town in Rakhine state where officials said several young Rakhine men had been killed by Muslims. He reported the killings in an article for The Irrawaddy, portraying them as the work of militants.
“Actually, we overlooked the situation, It was “quite clear that the military used” Rakhine residents to get information and “participate in military operations.”
Moe Myint
But later, he said, Rakhine villagers told him that the slain men were killed when they took part in a military-led assault on a Rohingya village. “Actually, we overlooked the situation,” he said. It was “quite clear that the military used” Rakhine residents to get information and “participate in military operations.”
He did not report this at the time, he said. It was difficult to verify information on the ground, he was wary of public opinion given strong anti-Rohingya sentiment, and his editors were reluctant to publish such information, he explained.
In December that year, he witnessed the aftermath of an attack by a mob of Rakhine people who had torn down a mosque and burned homes belonging to Rohingya in the village of Zay Di Pyin. A second reporter who was there, and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, confirmed the account.
Moe Myint said the men destroyed the mosque, which was close to a police station, using heavy machinery. He snapped some photos of people taking bricks and other materials from the rubble and was leaving when a crowd surrounded him and his colleague.
“Some people were drunk and they shouted to kill us,” Moe Myint said. He and his colleague were handed over to the police, who detained them.
Though they were eventually released, Moe Myint said he was warned by a senior Rakhine politician that he should never talk publicly about what had happened.
“There are many untold stories,” he said.
How Reuters corroborated the Rohingya purge documents
The reporting for this article is based on material from thousands of pages of official records obtained by the Commission for International Justice and Accountability.
To verify details in the documents, Reuters reporters spoke to more than a dozen people with knowledge of the military’s operations in Rakhine, including former officials from Rakhine state, a member of parliament, locals in Rakhine and former members of the security forces. The reporters also cross-checked details in the documents against contemporaneous reports by state and local media and other material authored by authorities, including articles in an official magazine and books. They scoured social media pages to confirm details in the documents that appeared on the accounts of administrators and officials. One of the documents in the CIJA cache had been previously obtained by Reuters.
Not all details in the documents could be verified, including specific discussions that took place in private meetings between a tight circle of people ahead of the military crackdown in 2017.
Two former officials, however, confirmed that the kinds of meetings involving senior military commanders that are described in the documents took place. They confirmed key events and policies described in the documents, such as the formation of militias and cooperation between military officials and ultranationalist monks.
Former officials and members of the security forces interviewed by Reuters also confirmed the names and ranks of officials and military commanders who appear in the documents. For example, a defector from the Myanmar military confirmed the presence in the field during the 2017 military crackdown of a captain and a commander named in the documents; their names were not in the public domain. A former politician in Rakhine also confirmed that a meeting to discuss the Rohingya detailed in the documents between military officials and ultranationalist monks took place.
Reuters verified audiovisual material contained in the CIJA cache by matching unique elements that can be seen in the material with contemporaneous media accounts.
Former military and civilian officials confirmed the use by government and military officers of the Viber messaging app, which is mentioned in the documents.
Viber didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The reporters also corroborated the timeline for the implementation of key policies and events described in the documents. For example, an interview with a militia leader helped to confirm dates and other details about the formation of anti-Rohingya militias. The reporters also corroborated the deployment of mobile medical teams to Rohingya villages with a Rohingya village administrator and photos published in a military-authored book. According to the CIJA documents, these teams were meant to spy on the Muslim population while treating them.
Reporters cross-checked a log of military activities with information published by military-run media and satellite images showing when Rohingya villages were torched in Rakhine state. The number of burned buildings recorded in each village in the log aligned roughly with estimates put together by researchers who analyzed satellite imagery of the arson. A military defector confirmed that battalions mentioned in the log were present in Rakhine state at the time. The log also refers to the murder of several Rohingya administrators in a remote village; a Rohingya elder from that village confirmed the account.
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