Story: Sicha Rungrojtanakul
Cover illustration: Kittiya On-in

Since the 2021 coup in Myanmar, the military junta has continued its campaign of repression against the country’s citizens.  Among the many groups targeted for harassment are independent journalists covering resistance groups. Many fled to Thailand, often illegally. Some later managed to legalise their immigration status by claiming to be migrant workers. They have been obliged to keep their real occupations secret, however.

Over the course of the past three years, women and LGBTQI+ journalists have risked their lives in the field while dealing with sexual harassment and the burden of looking after family members while displaced.  At the same time, they have faced the added difficulties of communicating with local sources and struggling to obtain legal status in Thailand.

Exiled by journalism

Mee (pseudonym), a journalist with over 14 years of experience, fled Yangon to covertly work as a journalist in a border town in Thailand. Prior to the coup, she used to be able to report freely. After the coup, however, the state imposed strict censorship; according to Mee, just mentioning that Aung San Suu Kyi was State Counsellor put a journalist at risk of getting a warning letter.

She joined the resistance but continued to work underground in Myanmar. However, two years after the coup, when military officers searched her neighbourhood while she was not home, she decided to flee to Thailand. The breadwinner of her household, she has continued working as a reporter here.

To reside in Thailand legally, Mee spent over 50,000 baht on a student visa. This does not guarantee that she won’t be harassed by the authorities, however; she was recently pick up by the police. Mee spends most of her time in class, while doing her journalism work online.

Stress from politics back home and working remotely from Thailand has taken a toll on her mental health. Currently, she gets counselling from a doctor with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a group whose members have also taken refuge on the Thai side of the border.

“After I arrived (in Thailand), I asked myself why I put myself through all this. Work was already stressful enough. Now, though, the week before my period, I get so stressed that I feel like I might explode. So much so that at times, I wonder whether life has a purpose at all”, Mee admitted.

Kay Zue on duty while still in Myanmar (Supplied photo)

Kay Zue, an Arakanese journalist with over 10 years of experience, suffered harassment in his own country, so he invested a small fortune on documents to move to Thailand.

He proudly told us that before the coup, he worked for the Yangon-based Mizzima News agency as an expert on conflicts in Arakan State. After the coup, he resigned and moved back home to establish a local news agency called “Arakan Sagawar”, which reported local news in two languages: Rohingya and Arakanese. Its articles were also shared with Mizzima for further publication. One day, Myanmar military officers visited his house when he was not home. That was when he decided to move to Thailand. Harassed by the army, his team members went their separate ways to seek safety and Arakan Sagawar suspended operations.

“The Myanmar army always monitors journalists, no matter who they are”, he said. He added that both the Arakan Sagawar Facebook Page and his personal Facebook account had been hacked.

Kay Zue and his partner crossed the Myanmar-Thai border illegally together. He now works as a freelancer hosting a radio program for Mizzima News, which is also broadcast on Lay Waddy FM.  His partner is in the process of applying for a job in a factory.

“In the beginning … we were worried about our families back home because the internet in Arakan State had been cut. All I could do was to keep sending reports. We wanted people in the Arakan State to have access to information, so Mizzima let me host a radio news program,” Kay Zue said.

In order to have legal standing in Thailand, Kay Zue and his partner paid a Myanmar man claiming to be an agent to get them pink cards. They were told that their case was a “VIP” one and would cost 18,000 baht. This was around 70% of the money he had at the time, he told us.

Apart from work, settling down in Thailand means a lot for the couple as they feel that Thai society is more open towards LGBTQI+ people. Back home, their families do not accept their relationship.

Kay Zue dreams that after the documents have been sorted out, he can organise a small wedding and marry his partner here.  He still has to conceal his occupation, however.

After crossing the border, Kay Zue (in grey behind camera) has continued to report on human rights issues. (Supplied photo)

Journalists who flee to Thailand face a number of problems. According to a recent Exile Hub survey “The Safety Needs of Myanmar Women Journalists in Thailand,” 10 out of 23 participants who responded when asked how much of their income is spent on visa fees per year said that the costs associated with their residence permit applications took more than 30% of their annual incomes.

There are also career constraints. Since the coup, Myanmar journalists have been working anonymously or using pen-names for security reasons. This means that they get no recognition for their reportage.  There are other challenges, including difficulties contacting and communicating with news sources. When asked what their biggest challenges in their relocation are, 30 people who responded said they were concerned for their physical safety in Thailand.

A woman journalist’s life in the jungle

After the coup, a number of women journalists chose to embed themselves as field reporters in areas under the control of ethnic armed groups and resistance fighters. As women, they faced a number of constraints, including the hardship of jungle life and safety concerns working in a male-dominated environment.

Ja walking on foot to report news in a mountainous area inaccessible by car and motorbike (Supplied photo)

According to Ja (pseudonym), a Kachin reporter with over a year of experience covering news in the liberated zone of Karen State, media outlets tend not to send women journalists to the field out of concern for the risks they will have to face.

After graduating from the university, she worked in media business.  After the coup, the junta ordered many news outlets, including hers, to close down, however. Months later, she got her new job in the Karen State, where she lived together with 20 colleagues at a house in a refugee village. There is no privacy and the electricity is self-generated. Cooking is done with charcoal. Clean water is scarce. Everyone gets water from the same well.  It is a 15 minute walk to take a bath. In the heat of the summer, it is difficult to sleep without fans. The rainy season brings so much rain that the village generator often breaks down, cutting off internet and telephone communications. The sound of rain also interferes with broadcasting.  As for the winters, it is so cold that reporters must make use of blankets and sweaters donated to the refugees.

The areas Ja covers are frequently targeted for air raids. Between February and May of 2023, when she travelled with an armed group in another part of the Karen State, fighter aircraft frequently appeared overhead.

“I did not get a single good night of sleep”, she said.

Every time an airplane roared overhead, she rushed to the bunker. Having heard bombs dropped nearby and witnessed houses destroyed by explosions, the sound terrified her.

According to Dahlia (pseudonym), a Karen journalist who also did fieldwork in Karen State, the army’s fighter planes usually flew over the area at night. She, too, sought safety in a bunker, sleeping in the cold.

“We thought about nothing but survival”, she said.

During the bombings, Dahlia and her colleagues took shelter at the foot of the mountains. They made mattresses of woven mats on bamboo.  Work equipment - laptops, telephones, and notebooks - was kept nearby  So were instant noodles and water. (Supplied photo)

Tin Zar Aung, the founder of Myanmar Women in Media, notes that the coup has given many female journalists mental health problems. The claim is backed up by the Exile Hub survey noted above; 62 out of the 79 respondents admitted that stress impacted their ability to do their jobs. Focus group discussions also make it clear that for many, things got worse after relocating to Thailand. Most use work as a tool to heal and overcome problems, making it all the more important that they find safe spaces free from harassment and exploitation.

Crossing the border did have some immediate positive impacts.  While in Myanmar, most suffered sleep deprivation. In Thailand, they were no longer in fear of night raids and slept better.

Additionally, women journalists in the field were also at risk of sexual harassment. In an interview with a Prachatai reporter in March 2023, Dahlia, who was one of three women in an area with ten other men, recounted how one of the men tried to “take advantage” of her.

“He grabbed me and pulled me in. He already has a wife and children. He did not do it because he loved me or wanted to flirt with me,” she said.

To avoid such situations, Dahlia stayed in a group with her friends. She also told the man that if he tried anything again, she would report him to a women's organization in the Karen State.

Residence Permit Issues

According the Migrant Working Group, to legally reside and work in Thailand, a person must possess a valid temporary residence permit, personal identification documents, a passport and visa, or an identification card for non-Thai nationals (the pink card) and a work permit.

Of the displaced journalists interviewed by Prachatai, Mee is on an educational visa, Ja has a pink card and a certificate of identity as a migrant worker, and Kay Zue is also applying to remain as a migrant worker.

Dahlia was born in the Karen State but moved to Thailand when she was ten because of the armed conflict at home. She holds an identification card issued for a person without a registration status which allows her to reside in Thailand and move around in the province. To leave the province, she must obtain permission from the district office.

In contrast to journalists that arrive from other countries, they are not recognised as members of press by the Thai state, however.

Ja recalls that it took her a long time to get all the paperwork done. She also remembers that she was harassed and treated rudely at the police station by the duty officers and the male interpreter there. She was forced to unlock her phone so that the police could look at her personal data, including pictures, videos, and texts. The interpreter asked her whether she was married, tried to ask her out on a date, and also used her phone to call his so that he would had her number.

“I was afraid and angry, but I did not react because I worried that he would find a reason to arrest me. I was at a police station after all,” Ja said.

Ja’s studio in the jungle. When she worked it was never quiet; the sole source of electricity was a generator. (Supplied photo)

Ja moved to Chiang Mai in 2023. She found the atmosphere of this tourist city different from the border town she used to live in. She has been arrested twice there. Like other Myanmar people, she is subject to strict controls and gets targeted for extortion by authorities. After moving to Chiang Mai, she obtained documents which allow her to reside in Thailand and travel to other provinces. The whole process took a year. She feels safer now but is unable to register or work in Thailand as a journalist.

“I am still registered as a general worker. Working as a Myanmar journalist in Thailand is still not legal. I still have concerns that police will raid our office and arrest us because we have no permit to operate a news agency”, Ja told us.