Myanmar Spring Chronicle – May 25 Scenes
MoeMaKa, May 26 2023
Impact of Cyclone Mocha; Continuing decline in economic and armed conflicts
When I read the daily news either before going to bed at night or early in the morning, the most seen news stories are the news of fighting taking place between the military council troops and PDFs in what village or city, how many casualties and how many weapons were seized, the news of how many people are fleeing due to the raids of the military council columns, the news of how many villages were arrested or killed by the military council troops, the news of how many residential houses were being burned, the news of how many civilians were killed or wounded by the fall of heavy weapons into which village in what township, and the news of those who criticized the military council on social media were arrested in cities etc.. In the past 2 years, news like this has become a daily news, and it is no longer easy for readers to read every news with their heart. For those who read every day have become accustomed to them and only looking at the information as if it were a routinely occurring event.
For those who don’t read daily but only read it sometimes, every piece of news can hurt their hearts. Some people in the town said that every time they read the news, they feel like they lose hope for the future and that their good hopes disappear. In the few months after the military coup, events of arrests, killings, attacks, assassinations, and severe human rights violations have become a daily occurrence, and the news seems to be collecting such contents from all parts of Myanmar every day.
About 60–70% of the news events are the types of news described above, and only the rest are business news, administration-related news, trade news, and other international news. There is hardly any comforting, satisfying, praiseworthy, or joyful news. There is a question of whether what is happening outside is the same if about 70 percent of the news is bad.
For those living in conflict zones, what’s happening outside is even more heartbreaking than what is on the news, and they are suffering from various hardships and feelings that are not enough to describe with words and pictures. If one is lucky enough not to live in an area where armed conflicts occur, he will have to see and hear about assassinations, bombings, arrests, human rights violations, and high commodity prices around him. We are also seeing and hearing about things like power outages, the impact of hotter-than-normal summers, and strong storms as a result of climate change almost every day.
About 90% of the country’s population is suffering from armed conflicts resulting from social organizations as well as natural disasters caused by man-made environmental changes. It is also a sense that the problems have been handed down for decades because of those who took power in the country by force.
Military dictators protect their power, interests, and those of their group by building military forces and fighting wars. They are working to create hatred between ethnic groups and people of different religions by portraying them as those who rely on foreign countries, as those who will destroy the nation and religion, and as those who disturb the stability and peace of the country.
The 2 major contributing factors, long-standing armed conflict and natural disasters, have already had a major impact on agricultural food production and the economy.
The cyclone that destroyed many houses and killed hundreds of people in Rakhine State has also caused great damage to agricultural industries in the inland region of Myanmar. Cyclone Mocha, which hit in mid-May last year, caused damage to tens of thousands of acres of rice, beans, sesame and other crops. The figure published by the military council only stated 60,000 acres, and the actual damage could be much higher.
Due to the outbreak of civil war, the loss of houses, the decrease in food production, the increase in the cost of agriculture due to the increase in the global fuel price and the price of fertilizers, the depreciation of the Myanmar currency, the cost of food and living, and the cost of agriculture have increased significantly. Again, in selling agricultural products, due to the instability of the local situation, the prices are not as good as they should be. For the farmers who are burdened with tax collections that are not included in the laws and regulations, the hardships they suffer in the next 6 months and 1 year are likely to increase many times over.
According to the report of a research group released today, we also read the conclusion that climate change will have an impact on political and armed forces.
Myanmar is also affected by global problems such as climate change, the Ukraine-Russia war, the political and economic rivalry between the West and Russia, the West and China, and the effects of the Cold War. Due to the internal political crisis, the people of Myanmar will have to face and overcome many problems.
There are levels of upper class, middle class and lower class. People with power, money, education, and well-connection are in the upper and middle classes, but for ordinary rural farmers and manual laborers in the city, they will have to feel more suffering in bottom class.