No invite for Min Aung Hlaing to ASEAN Summit in Malaysia
Malaysia state media reported that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim confirmed on Thursday that Burma’s regime leader Min Aung Hlaing will not attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) 47th Summit Oct. 26-28. The New Straits Times newspaper in Malaysia reported earlier this week that Min Aung Hlaing would attend the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, but has since removed the online article.
All high-level regime officials from Burma have been barred from ASEAN since Min Aung Hlaing failed to implement the Five Point Consensus, a peace plan introduced by the regional bloc in April 2021. Malaysia said that it is unlikely that ASEAN would send observers to the regime elections in Burma set to begin on Dec. 28 after the regime reported this following a meeting with Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan in Naypyidaw.
On Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ASEAN 47th Summit agenda is the rise of cross-border cyber scam operations. “This issue has been raised in bilateral and regional meetings, with assurance given. This will again be raised in this summit because it affects the stability and health, economy and wellbeing of the region,” said Anwar, who is also expected to grant full ASEAN membership to Timor-Leste at the summit.
SpaceX disables 2,500 satellite internet terminals used in ‘scams’
Lauren Dreyer, the vice president of Starlink business operations at SpaceX, shared on social media that the company has disabled over 2,500 of its terminals over suspected use in cyber scam centers in Burma. Regime media reported that the military seized 30 Starlink terminals during a raid on KK Park in Myawaddy Township, Karen State, on Oct. 19. Myawaddy is 81 miles (130 km) east of the Karen State capital Hpa-An.
“We are committed to ensuring the service remains a force for good and sustains trust worldwide: both connecting the unconnected and detecting and preventing misuse by bad actors,” Dreyer wrote on social media on Oct. 21. The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee has begun an investigation into Starlink’s alleged involvement in cyber scam centers located along the Burma-Thailand border, following an AFP report.
Sources told DVB that resistance forces along the 1,501 miles (2,416 km) long Burma-Thai border have recently lost access to Starlink satellite internet services. Media reports earlier noted that cyber scam centers in the region had installed Starlink terminals on their rooftops after Thailand cut internet and electricity to Karen State’s Shwe Kokko and Payathonzu (aka Three Pagodas Pass), as well as Shan State’s Tachilek.
Nearly 700 flee into Thailand after scam center raids
Residents of Myawaddy Township in Karen State told DVB that regime forces arrested an unspecified number of workers at an alleged cyber scam center in Mae Htaw Thalay village on Wednesday. Nearly 700 fled across the border into Thailand following a raid on KK Park, a Chinese-backed cyber scam compound. Mae Htaw Thalay is located two miles (3 km) south of Myawaddy.
“Karen troops first evacuated the Chinese operators from the scam compound, leaving the Burmese employees behind. Regime forces later raided the site and arrested them,” a source close to KK Park told DVB on the condition of anonymity. Residents of Shwe Kokko, which is the headquarters of the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF) 16 miles (25 km) north of Mywaddy, told DVB that no raids have taken place there.
Whistleblower group Justice for Myanmar called on ASEAN and the international community to take action against the regime, accusing Naypyidaw and the BGF of transnational crime and human trafficking to these cyber scam centers located along the Burma-Thai border. It called the regime’s KK Park crackdown a “showcase raid” in a press release on Oct. 22. Read more
News by Region
ARAKAN—The Arakan Army (AA) shared on social media that two civilians were killed and two others were injured in an attack carried out by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in Maungdaw Township on Wednesday. It added that operations against ARSA are underway.
The AA accused ARSA of killing six civilians in Maungdaw after discovering their remains near Inchaung village on Sept. 28. Maungdaw was seized by the AA on Dec. 8, which brought the entire 167 mile (270 km) long Burma-Bangladesh border under its control. It has seized 14 out of 17 townships in Arakan.
SAGAING—The National Socialist Council of Nagaland–Khaplang (NSCN-K) stated that two civilians were killed and four were injured by a drone strike carried out by India on Lahe Township, located in the Naga Self-Administered Zone, on Oct. 20. Lahe is 584 miles (940 km) north of the region’s capital Monywa.
The drone strike hit the home of the NSCN-K Major General Piyong Konyak, killing his five-year-old son and another civilian. The NSCN-K called the strike an “unacceptable assault on innocent civilians and children” that violates international law and constitutes a crime against humanity.
SHAN—Residents in Hsipaw Township told DVB that the authorities reopened schools and offices on Wednesday. Hispaw, seized by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) on Oct. 13, 2024 and recaptured by regime forces on Oct. 17, is located 45 miles (74 km) south of the regional capital Lashio.
“Administrative services are being managed at a monastery,” a Hispaw resident told DVB, adding that Mytel and MPT telecom services resumed on Oct. 17 and 21. Another resident told DVB that regime administrative officials have been compiling lists of people displaced from their homes.
(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,075 MMK)
Read: How the split in the Chin resistance impacts displaced people. Find DVB English News on X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok & Bluesky. Subscribe to us on YouTube.
