With Sean Turnell, Senior Fellow at the Lowy Institute. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, the military ships nearly 1,000 Rohingya from Yangon to wartorn Sittwe, Chinese are repatriated from border scam compounds, and we speak about the military’s access to foreign exchange and other finance matters in the wake of the new report, The Military, Money, and Myanmar: Breaking the Nexus.

Email the show at whimyanmar@proton.me

Timecodes—

1m15s :: Weekly news digest
7m35s :: With Sean Turnell, the military’s finances
10m40s :: Foreign exchange
13m30s :: Sanctions on Myanmar’s banks
21m16s :: Financing the resistance
28m06s :: Multilateral institutions noting the NUG
37m06s :: Close

Our guest—

Sean Turnell, Honorary Professor of Economics at Macquarie University, Senior Fellow at the Lowy Institute, and author of the 1999 book Fiery Dragons: Banks, Moneylenders and Microfinance in Burma, and more recently, An Unlikely Prisoner: How an Eternal Optimist Found Hope in Myanmar’s Most Notorious Jail. Sean advised the National League for Democracy government on economic matters from 2016-2020, was detained and locked up by the military for 650 days following the 2021 coup, and now serves as Special Advisor to the alternative National Unity Government’s Interim Central Bank.

The Military, Money, and Myanmar: Breaking the Nexus

And here’s links to the Frontier Myanmar interviews with Dr Sui Khar and Thai opposition MP Rangsiman Rome.

With Sue-Lin Wong, Southeast Asia correspondent for The Economist. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, ASEAN continues talking consensus, Sittwe fighting begins in earnest, and we speak about the scam industry in the region, as hundreds of trafficked victims go free from Myawaddy.

Email the show at whimyanmar@proton.me

Timecodes—

0m58s :: Weekly news digest
8m33s :: With Sue-Lin Wong, the scam industry
15m06s :: Why do people fall for scams?
17m22s :: Coercion and worker trafficking
23m11s :: Chinese experience of scams
25m26s :: Absent connection to CCP
31m45s :: Future of scams
34m52s :: Close

Our guest—

Sue-Lin Wong, Southeast Asia correspondent for The Economist.

Introduction to Scam Inc.

Online scams may already be as big a scourge as illegal drugs

And read Frontier’s editorial this week on the dangers posed by Elon Musk.

With Lorcan Lovett, independent journalist and Substack writer, with bylines in The Guardian, Al Jazeera, the Sunday Times and more. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, conscripts are barred from monasteries, fuel dries up at key border towns, and we discuss the final fight in the Chin National Defense Force push for Falam, in Chin State.

Email the show at whimyanmar@proton.me

Timecodes—

0m54s :: Weekly news digest
8m14s :: With Lorcan Lovett, fighting in Falam
15m18s :: Reinforcements
18m35s :: Freedom of movement
24m08s :: Civilian and rebel life
28m40s :: Chin resistance schism
37m54s :: Close

Our guest—

Lorcan Lovett, an independent journalist and Substack writer.

Lorcan’s Substack, “On Myanmar”

His first Chin State dispatch: “They plucked out his eye with a motorbike key … I wanted to kill them”

And—

The Institute of Chin Affairs report referred to in this podcast can be found here.

For more context on the Chin resistance split, check out this Frontier feature from last year.

With Erin Murphy, author of the book Burmese Haze and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, and Minnie, a Myanmar INGO practitioner actively engaged in various initiatives related to gender equality, social inclusion, democracy and human rights. Through USAID funding, her work has focused on projects that aim to create a more transparent government, civic inclusion, and include the voices of marginalized communities. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, Chinese representatives visit Lashio, Bhamo airport is lost to the Kachin Independence Army, and we talk all about the USAID funding freeze.

Email the show at whimyanmar@proton.me

Timecodes—

1m36s :: Weekly news digest

5m32s :: With Erin & Minnie, USAID funding freeze

9m28s :: Forewarning and U.S. strategy

15m50s :: Importance of USAID to Myanmar

21m09s :: Effect on AID workers

24m59s :: Near term future

30m47s :: Close

Our guests—

Erin Murphy, author of the book Burmese Haze and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Minnie, a Myanmar INGO practitioner actively engaged in various initiatives related to gender equality, social inclusion, democracy and human rights.

With Vox, a Digital Security Trainer from the Myanmar Internet Project (MIP) and Spring Revolution Security (SRS). This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, the MNDAA signs a ceasefire, nearly everyone talks scam centres, the Arakan Army pushes further towards the beach resort town of Chaungtha, and we discuss the new Cybersecurity Law enacted on January 1.

Email the show at whimyanmar@proton.me

Timecodes—

1m26s :: Weekly news digest
10m32s :: With Vox, the development of the Cybersecurity Law
14m57s :: Origins of law with NLD & experts
17m37s :: The law’s problems
21m23s :: Influence on the economy and business
31m53s :: Close

Our guests—

Vox, a Digital Security Trainer from the Myanmar Internet Project and Spring Revolution Security.

With Hka San Lwi, Editor-in-Chief of Kachin Waves. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, a deadly landslide hits Hpakant, the National Unity Government moots setting up shop in Sagaing, the State Administration Council bans LGBT publications, and we discuss the ongoing battle for Bhamo and the importance of that city in northern Myanmar.

Email the show at whimyanmar@proton.me

Timecodes—

1m33s :: Weekly news digest
8m38s :: The Battle for Bhamo
19m53s :: Close

Our guest—

Hka San Lwi, Editor-in-Chief of Kachin Waves:

https://kachinwaves.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kachinwavesnews/

With Andrew Nachemson, former Managing Editor of Frontier Myanmar, and freelance journalist. This week on What’s Happening in Myanmar, the military regime pardons thousands of prisoners, Arakan Army fighting expands into Ayeyarwady Region, a Chinese celebrity is trafficked and rescued in Myawaddy, and we discuss the revolution in Karen State, including the fate of the Aung Zaya column, Border Guard Force politics, and the Karen National Union’s administration.

Email the show at whimyanmar@proton.me

Timecodes—

0m46s :: Weekly news digest
4m40s :: Andrew’s trip details & logistics
9m14s :: Aung Zaya column
14m14s :: KNLA’s perception of Border Guard Force
19m25s :: KNU administration
23m53s :: Wider revolutionary context and KNLA’s modest gains
35m39s :: Close

Our guest—

Andrew Nachemson, former Managing Editor of Frontier Myanmar and freelance journalist:

Myanmar anti-coup forces target Mandalay in struggle to oust military

Where the Resistance Rules in Myanmar

Myanmar’s Armed Groups And Democracy Activists Are Joining Forces

Finding Marwi in Loikaw

‘We’ll never give up’: The fight for Loikaw

With Laetitia van den Assum, former Dutch ambassador to Myanmar and member of the 2016-2017 Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. This fortnight on What’s Happening in Myanmar, the military loses more towns in Rakhine and Chin states, internet and motion picture laws are tightened by the State Administration Council, and we discuss Bangladesh’s hopes for a conference on the Rohingya crisis and Rakhine State under Arakan Army rule from an international perspective.

Email the show at whimyanmar@proton.me

Timecodes—

1m15s :: Weekly news digest

6m02s :: With Laetitia, the Rakhine Commission
11m18s :: Firm Arakan Army control in Rakhine State
16m50s :: The new Bangladesh UN conference
26m10s :: Future of Rakhine State

33m10s :: Close

Our guests—

Laetitia van den Assum, former Dutch ambassador first posted to Southeast Asia in 1995, then accredited as ambassador to Myanmar from Bangkok, and member of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State in 2016:

Bangladesh, the Rohingya and the new reality in Rakhine

And as a bonus link, given cinema censorship is in the news again this week, check out the short film Ban That Scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gckHgn2a7fg