Philippines to meet with Myanmar ethnic nationalities
Philippine Foreign Minister Ma. Theresa Lazaro said on Wednesday that she intends to meet with “ethnic groups” from Burma in the coming days to learn about the situation and seek solutions to the crisis since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021. “I intend to meet with certain ethnic armed groups and to find out the situation and how we can really try to help,” Lazaro said at a forum organized by Nikkei in Tokyo, Japan.
The Philippines is the 2026 chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has appointed Lazaro as the ASEAN Special Envoy to Burma. Lazaro did not specify whom she will meet with nor where the meetings will be held. “We’ll see how it works,” Lazaro added. The regime in Naypyidaw has been barred from attending high-level ASEAN meetings since April 2021.
But ASEAN has been seeking ways to re-engage with Burma since elections ended on Jan. 25. Regime leader Min Aung Hlaing, who was inaugurated as Burma’s president on April 10, has said his new administration will strive to normalise relations with ASEAN. In January, Manila convened a “stakeholders’ meeting” that assembled several ethnic armed groups from Burma for talks.
Surge in hate speech against Rohingya in Malaysia
Three prominent Malaysian human rights advocacy organizations—BeyondBorders, Tenaganita, and the North South Initiative—issued a joint statement on Tuesday along with 20 other local, regional and international rights groups sounding the alarm over a “growing normalisation of hate speech,” misinformation, and intimidation targeting Rohingya refugees online in Malaysia.
The groups warned of the historical consequences of dehumanizing vulnerable populations. According to the joint statement on June 9, social media platforms have been saturated with false claims portraying Rohingya in Malaysia as demanding citizenship, political power, or territorial autonomy. They added that these narratives are being “deliberately manufactured and amplified to incite fear and hostility.”
Members of the Rohingya community in Malaysia have reported that hate speech has spread from online into the real world as some have received threats and are now living in fear of harassment and violence as personal information circulates online, known as “doxxing.” Such actions place the Rohingya community at “grave risk” and contradict Malaysia’s values of compassion and justice, the groups concluded.
UN says Thai jobs for Myanmar refugees a ‘model’ for Asia
More than 5,500 refugees from Burma living in camps along Thailand’s border have found jobs since Bangkok eased employment curbs last year, an approach that offers a regional example, states the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The step came in response to the slash in global humanitarian funding, in part as U.S. President Donald Trump slashed foreign aid and Thailand battled growing labour shortages.
Thailand allowed about 80,000 refugees from Burma to work legally, in a policy change significant for a population that has lived for decades dependent on humanitarian aid in nine camps along the border. Raouf Mazou, the UNHCR assistant high commissioner for operations, said Thailand’s efforts could become a model for other countries in Asia grappling with the problem of protracted displacement.
The approach could offer lessons for countries such as Bangladesh and Malaysia that host large refugee populations, showing how they can contribute to the economy while remaining under legal protections and government oversight. “If it works here, it will have an impact on the region,” Mazou told Reuters. “Self-reliance prepares people to be part of the country they’re from,” he added. Read more
News by Region
ARAKAN—The regime’s state authorities sealed off the home of aid worker, writer, and former political prisoner Wai Hun Aung in the capital Sittwe on Monday. His current whereabouts remain unknown. Wai Hun Aung has been a vital source of information on the ground in Arakan.
Using his social media channels and communicating with local and international media, he has consistently documented military attacks on territory controlled by the Arakan Army (AA) since it launched an offensive on Nov. 13, 2023. It has seized control of 14 of 17 townships. Read more
SAGAING—Two bodies were recovered in Chaung-U Township’s Ngalonetin village following fighting between regime forces and the People’s Defense Force (PDF) on Wednesday. Chaung-U, located 16 miles (25 km) south of the region’s capital Monywa, is partially controlled by the PDF.
Regime media reported that the two bodies belonged to the PDF, which were accused of hiding in civilian buildings and extorting motorists on the Chaung-U-Monywa road. The PDF in Chaung-U has not yet responded to these specific accusations against them made by the regime.
YANGON—Regime regional Minister for Electricity, Energy and Transport Myo Thaw stated that new fuel control measures imposed on March 7 will not be abolished. Even-numbered plates are allowed to drive on even dates, and odd-numbered plates on odd dates to save fuel.
Thein Naing, a regional lawmaker, claimed that the scheme makes lives “difficult.” A resident told DVB that some motorists are not following the new measures, claiming to have witnessed drivers pay bribes to traffic police to avoid the penalty of one month in prison and a fine of 20,000 MMK ($4.76 USD).
(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,220 MMK)
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