Translated by KP


It has been reported in the media that sectarian violence broke out and escalated on a wide scale, when a Muslim man doused a Buddhist woman with gasoline and set her alight in northern Shan State’s Lashio on 28 May. The current situation in the city has been normalized after the authorities worked hard to stabilize violence and get it under the control.

The violence, however, poses many unanswered questions as many rumors are being spread far and wide. All media available in the country has flocked to the northern Shan city, Lashio curious to know how and why the incidents took place and attempting to answer some of the challenging questions posed. Apart from locals on the streets, the news media has also attempted to reach out to officials and authorities involved.

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Some officials are reluctant, some are impolite and some have responded with ‘they hold no authority to answer the questions’ posed by the media. Therefore, it is very hard to obtain the correct information in order to conduct a search on what exactly happened to cause the violence in Lashio.

When the violence reached its peak on 28 and 29 May, it was reported that the authorities did not provide any security measures or cooperate with the journalists.

Additionally, on 29 May, it was reported that 2 journalists were attacked and beaten by the mobs and the looters deleted the pictures from their cameras.
On the afternoon of 31 May, in response to the incidents an urgent management committee was formed with local and outside reporters who have flocked to Lashio headed by Daw Khin San, chief of Shan State Information and Public Relation (SSIPR). The committee aim was to be able to release news and information correctly and as timely as possible and to make it accessible to everyone.

On the same day in the afternoon, Daw Khin San and other officials visited Ma Aye Aye Win who was burned alive and being treated at the Lashio general hospital. News media and journalists had a chance to interview Ma Aye Aye Win as her condition was stable and improving.

However, on the same day in late evening at 20:00 pm local time, it was reported that the assistant surgeon, who was on duty where Ma Aye Aye Win was being treated, on the second floor, denied the chief of SSIPR to make assessment.

The surgeon said: “We do not permit anyone to enter the Surgery Theater at this time.” The chief of SSIPR was allowed to see the patient only when she immediately made a phone call to the administrator of the hospital.

Although the chief of the hospital gave permission for entrance, the surgeons who were on duty at the Theater insisted that they have their own schedules for the visitors. “So it is not necessary to break the rule of Surgery Theater regardless of who the visitor is. We must manage the visitors according to our own rules,” said the assistant surgeon.

“The rule is all right, but it is disturbing and inconvenient for the official visitors,” complained the chief of SSIPR.

As the news of sectarian violence from Lashio has spread far and wide, mostly through rumors, the numbers of casualties related to the violence are being publicized differently.

On 2 June, a Lashio based journalist was reportedly conducting a survey, to discover the exact number of casualties resulting from the sectarian violence at the emergency department of Lashio general hospital. He was responded by the on duty medical personnel, doctors and nurses, saying they have no rights to assess the information or the statistics related to the sectarian violence.

“It is very disturbing and unnecessarily delaying to make a public announcement,” complained the journalist.

Today, as the Myanmar government is being transparent somewhat more than ever before in terms of politics, it is obviously successful to a certain extend. At the same time, the role of media is very important for the change in the country and development. Much of the rules and restrictions on the media have also been nullified.

Nevertheless, it is problematic for the country development as many of the government officials are severely lacking the knowledge and background in public relations and communications necessary. I would like to humbly suggest that all the departments of government concerned should be educated to understand the policy of transparency and cooperation with media.