5/22/22, 8:02 PM Spin, lies and social media obscure crisis in Myanmar - Asia Times The government quickly designated ARSA a terrorist organization under the hitherto unused Counter-Terrorism Law of 2014. In one of the more curious official statements of recent days, entitled “Warning in Relation with Extremist Terrorists”, the government warned that foreigners may be assisting ARSA and that all references to its members should label them as “extremist terrorists” rather than “insurgents.” The government and autonomous military have orchestrated a major public relations drive to capitalize on ARSA’s attacks, with press conferences held by the military’s Psychological Warfare Department for defense attaches and media in Naypyitaw. A briefing this week for diplomats and journalists held in Yangon by Minister of Home Affairs Lt-Gen Kyaw Swe and National Security Advisor U Thaung Tun pledged security forces would operate with “maximum restraint.” State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s office’s Information Committee on Rakhine Affairs has maintained an active Facebook page providing updates on events for several months. It was inexplicably renamed simply the ‘Information Committee’ this week. Since August 25, it has produced a series of “Latest News on Rakhine ARSA Extremist Terrorists News”, with a mix of detailed conflict reports on militant attacks, killings, injuries and captured supplies of suspected militant bases. Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi (R) confers with members of her delegation at the United Nations General Assembly on September 21, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Carlo Allegri But photos disseminated by the Information Committee of international relief supplies supposedly captured by militants represented an information war low point. The government has long staged a theater of seizure and display to illustrate insurgent activity in the country, laying out purportedly captured items as evidence of violent plots or attack aftermath, including rows of captured weapons, bullets, jingalees (sharpened bicycle spokes used with a slingshot) and crude pipe bombs. https://asiatimes.com/2017/09/spin-lies-social-media-obscure-crisis-myanmar/ 3/9