Beyond Borders | A Southeast Asian Space - Uprising in Myanmar; COVID-19 and Our News Habits
February has been a red-letter month for Southeast Asia.
There was the lunar new year (a more muted welcome to the year of the ox) - and the fact that red, the colour of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, has been dominant in the protests sweeping Myanmar for the third straight week since the Feb 1 military coup.
In this issue, we share photos from the streets of Yangon, provided by the local Myanmar Pressphoto Agency, as well as infographics on topics that are relevant at this time - how online Myanmar people are given the crucial role of digital spaces in the protests and approved foreign investments in the country of more than 54 million people.
A story on the mood among Myanmar journalists highlights their very uncertain professional future, not least given the detention of journalists, several internet shutdowns and the military's order to avoid using 'coup government' and 'junta' to refer to its governing State Administrative Council. "We won't comply (with this), even if all the operations have to be shut down," 'Myanmar Now' editor-in-chief Swe Win said in a Feb 18 discussion. "There is every indication. . . that they (military) will go after the media sooner or later." Due to safety considerations, his newsroom had packed up a few days before the coup.
Read about how COVID-19 helped Vietnam's Anti-Fake News Center emerge, and how hostility toward migrant workers amid the pandemic has left rights advocates scratching their heads in frustration. A glimpse follows too of the results of the Reporting ASEAN survey 'News Habits and COVID-19: A Southeast Asia Lens' – the full story will be in the next issue.
Do help us spread the word about this homegrown, truly Southeast Asian newsletter --
Johanna Son | Editor & founder, Reporting ASEAN
1 Uprising underway
After Coup, Myanmar’s Journalists Watch and Wait, Warily — www.reportingasean.net
JOHANNA SON
Myanmar's journalists are no strangers to working in hostile settings. But the February military coup throws up questions about what may be left of the profession of journalism, which has been around for just a decade in the Southeast Asian country.
Read this in Thai.
Myanmar in numbers
2 New, but not so new
Fact-checking, Vietnamese Style — www.reportingasean.net
UYEN DIEP
Meet the Vietnam Anti-Fake News Center, the newest kid on the fact-checking block in Southeast Asia. It doesn't work like fact-checkers elsewhere, but the COVID-19 infodemic has created new spaces for such initiatives within the limits of the media scene.
3 Interview
Migrant Workers in ASEAN: ‘COVID-19 Brings Us Back to Zero’ — www.reportingasean.net
The renewed hostility toward migrant workers in COVID-19 raises the question: Has the decades-long advocacy around a better understanding of their lives made any difference? Q & A with Yuyun Wahyuningrum, Indonesia's rep to the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission Human Rights.
Read this story in Thai.
4 Take a pause
5 Clickworthy
How the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War shaped the course of world history — southeastasiaglobe.com Feb 17 marks 42 years since the Chinese invasion of Vietnam, a bloody war that would shape one of the most consequential years in history.
France wades into the South China Sea with a nuclear attack submarine — www.france24.com
The French nuclear attack submarine SNA Emeraude conducted a patrol in the South China Sea, Defence Minister Florence Parly announced, sparking questions over the timing and tensio…
Opinion | It’s Time to Trust China’s and Russia’s Vaccines — www.nytimes.com They, too, work, and they can help fill shortages everywhere.
The State of Southeast Asia: 2021 Survey Report — www.iseas.edu.sg
This report presents the findings of a region-wide online survey conducted among the policy, research, business, civil society, and media communities. For the first time, three different language options were offered: English, Bahasa Indonesia and Vietnamese.