ISSUE: 2019 No. 36
ISSN 2335-6677
pro-USDP, and pro-military users are now full of partisan posts, cartoons, pictures, and
videos relating to this controversy.35
CONCLUSION
Facebooking in a Myanmar in transition has over the past seven years held both advantages
and disadvantages for various parties. The NLD government seems concerned about its
negative impact, and has sought to remedy the situation through monitoring social media
and preparing a cyber law. Upon completion, the cyber law may or may not be effective in
controlling undesirable and dangerous cyber traffic. It is not easy to gauge the human and
technological capacity of relevant government agencies in Myanmar to enforce a law that
deals with a highly technical problem.
However, the highly volatile nature of the transition in Myanmar does require the
government, military, political parties, and others to continue to rely on Facebook for their
political communication needs. Partisan Facebooking may even increase when the 2020
general elections draw near, and all sides in that contest are expected to resort to Facebook
for instant communication.
We Are Social, ‘Digital 2019: Myanmar’, 31 January 2019,
https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2019-myanmar, accessed 3 March 2019.
2
We Are Social, ‘Digital 2011: Myanmar’, 28 December 2011,
https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2011-myanmar, accessed 2 March 2019.
3
Nyein Zaw Lin, ‘Social Media Team Will Not Spy on Netizens, Official Says’, Myanmar Times,
23 May 2018, https://www.mmtimes.com/news/social-media-team-will-not-spy-netizens-officialsays.html, accessed 28 February 2019.
4
Author’s translation. Yar Zar Aung, ‘NLD a-so-ya pyo-lè-aung sa-nit-ta-kya le-kyin-ta-thi lu
3000 kan-pa-thi in-aa-kyi a-pwè-ta-pwè lôk-ne, Yangon-taing-a-so-ya-ko taik-kaik-hmu a-pyintan-sôn-pyit-hu U Myo Yan Naung Thein-pyaw [A Powerful 3,000-Member Seeks NLD
Government Failure, Attack against Yangon Region Government Strongest: U Myo Yan Naung
Thein]’, Myanmar Times, 24 October 2018, https://myanmar.mmtimes.com/news/116828.html,
accessed 25 February 2019.
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