Myanmar Spring Chronicle – Scenes from June 9
(MoeMaKa), June 10, 2026
We Also Need to Pay Attention to the Lives of People Affected by War
Among the news we read every day are reports about foreign ministers from some ASEAN member states visiting Naypyidaw, meetings between diplomats and the committee known as the Steering Committee for the Emergence of a Federal Union (SCEF), campaigns demanding proof that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is still alive, and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to India. These stories frequently occupy the headlines.
Alongside them are daily reports of casualties caused by airstrikes, fighting between ethnic armed organizations or PDF forces and the military junta, and occasional accounts of civilians being killed when military columns enter villages and small towns.
There are also frequent reports about people being arrested while traveling or in urban areas for military conscription, and about families having to pay large bribes—sometimes amounting to millions of kyats—to secure the release of their loved ones.
In general, daily news coverage tends to be dominated by the views and analyses of military and political leaders, organizations, and commentators, as well as reports on battles and displacement caused by conflict.
However, far less attention is given to the everyday hardships faced by ordinary people in Myanmar: the rising cost of living; taxes and unofficial payments required to transport and trade food, fuel, and consumer goods; soaring prices; transportation blockages; and the inability of farmers to market their crops because of high fuel costs and disrupted transport routes. Crops are often left to spoil, while others are destroyed because fighting or military operations prevent harvesting. These realities rarely receive sustained coverage.
The issue of forced military recruitment is also incompletely reported. While some information emerges regarding conscription by the junta, reporting on recruitment carried out by other armed resistance groups is generally limited and fragmentary.
A news report I read today stated that more than 3,900 ethnic Rakhine people were forcibly conscripted by the military junta between May 2025 and the end of May 2026. This raises an important question: how could nearly 4,000 Rakhine people be recruited when the Arakan Army controls almost the entire state? The report explains that many were arrested and conscripted while living outside Rakhine State or while displaced outside the state due to conflict.
Stories like these are not the kind of headlines we encounter every day. Likewise, there is little reporting on the burdens faced by ordinary people throughout Myanmar who must bear the added costs imposed by road closures, taxes collected by multiple armed groups, and numerous checkpoints. The cumulative effect of these taxes and fees is passed on through higher prices for basic goods, yet such realities seldom feature prominently in daily news coverage.
There is also limited reporting on how families across Myanmar are managing their children’s education under increasingly difficult circumstances. How are parents ensuring their children can continue learning? What measures are being taken—or should be taken—to protect the education and safety of school-age children living in conflict zones? How many children and young people have been denied educational opportunities over the past five years? These issues occasionally appear in headlines, but comprehensive coverage remains rare.
The same is true of environmental destruction. Some environmental issues appear in stories connected to military and political developments, but the actual conditions on the ground and the growing environmental crises are seldom examined in depth through dedicated reporting or investigative articles.
For example, ruby mining in Mogok received attention before and during the transfer of control of the town because of its connection to armed groups and political developments. Since then, however, little has been heard about the issue.
Similarly, in many parts of Kachin State, gold mining has damaged farmland, villages, forests, and rivers. Social media posts and photographs occasionally reveal river pollution, sedimentation, and environmental degradation, yet these issues are rarely treated as urgent concerns. More often, they appear only as side notes in reports about tensions between armed groups.
A report today described friction between local KIA and SSPP units over the sale of gold-mining rights in a village in Muse Township.
Environmental concerns linked to rare-earth mining in Kachin State and mineral extraction in Wa-controlled areas—which have reportedly contributed to river pollution and other ecological damage—also surface periodically in the news. Yet these issues are rarely covered in a sustained or systematic manner.
Another underreported topic is the relationship between armed conflict and the production, distribution, and trafficking of narcotics. In Shan State and other regions of Myanmar, drugs are produced and transported through territories controlled by various armed groups before being moved across borders into neighboring countries. Despite the significance of this issue, it remains largely absent from regular news coverage.
At a time when people are struggling to survive amid war, environmental degradation, soaring prices, and rising crime, greater attention should be paid to the daily lives of ordinary citizens. More extensive reporting on these realities could help create a degree of accountability among organizations and individuals who possess weapons, governing authority, or influence. Only when the experiences and hardships of ordinary people are consistently documented and highlighted can those responsible for shaping conditions on the ground be held accountable to some meaningful extent.