Journalist Ja is on foot to report news in a mountainous region that is inaccessible by car and motorbike: Source: Prachatai (photo provided)
This article by Sicha Rungrojtanakul was originally published by Prachatai, an independent news site in Thailand. An edited version was republished by Global Voices under a content-sharing agreement.
Since the coup in Myanmar in 2021, the military junta has continued its campaign of repression against the country’s citizens. Among the many groups being harassed are independent journalists covering resistance groups. Many have fled to Thailand, often illegally. Some later managed to legalize their immigration status by claiming to be migrant workers. However, most journalists are forced to keep their true profession secret.
Over the past three years, LGBTQ+ journalists on the ground have risked their lives while dealing with sexual harassment and the burden of caring for family members during their displacement, while also facing the additional difficulties of communicating with local sources and fighting for legal status in Thailand.
Journalists living in exile
Mee (a pseudonym), a journalist with over 14 years of experience, fled Yangon to work secretly as a journalist in a border town in Thailand. Before the coup, she was able to report freely. After the coup, however, the state imposed strict censorship.
She joined the resistance but continued to work underground in Myanmar. However, two years after the coup, when military officers raided her neighborhood in her absence, she decided to flee to Thailand. She continues to work as a reporter here to support her family.
To live legally in Thailand, Mee spent over 50,000 TBH (1,470 USD) on a student visa. Mee spends most of her time in classes while doing her journalism work online. The political stress at home and working remotely from Thailand have taken a toll on her mental health.
After I arrived (in Thailand), I wondered why I was putting myself through all this. Work was stressful enough as it was. But now, in the week before my period, I’m so stressed I feel like I might explode. So much so that sometimes I wonder if life has any meaning at all.
Kay Zue, an Arakanese journalist (from the Rahkine people) with over 10 years of experience, was harassed in his own country and therefore invested a small fortune in documents in order to be able to move to Thailand.
He proudly told us that before the coup, he worked for the Yangon-based news agency Mizzima News as an expert on conflicts in Arakan State. After the coup, he quit and moved back home to set up a local news agency called “Arakan Sagawar,” reporting local news in two languages: Rohingya and Arakanese. One day, Myanmar military officers visited his house while he was away. That’s when he decided to move to Thailand.
Kay Zue and his partner illegally crossed the border between Myanmar and Thailand together. He now works as a freelance radio presenter for Mizzima News, which is also broadcast on Lay Waddy FM. His partner is currently applying for a job in a factory.
In the beginning… we were worried about our families back home because the internet was shut down in Arakan State. All I could do was keep broadcasting reports. We wanted the people of Arakan State to have access to information, so Mizzima had me host a radio news program.
Aside from work, settling in Thailand means a lot to the couple as they feel that Thai society is more accepting towards LGBTQ+ people. Back home, their families do not accept their relationship.
Kay Zue dreams of organizing a small wedding and marrying his partner here after applying for the papers. However, he still has to keep his profession a secret.
The life of a journalist in the jungle
After the coup, many female journalists chose to work as reporters in areas controlled by ethnic armed groups and resistance fighters. As women, they faced numerous constraints, including the harshness of life in the jungle and safety concerns when working in a male-dominated environment.
After graduating from university, Ja (pseudonym) worked in the media. But after the coup, the junta ordered the closure of many news agencies, including hers. Months later, she got her new job in Karen State, where she lived with 20 colleagues in a house in a refugee village. There is no privacy and electricity is self-generated. Cooking is done with charcoal. Clean water is scarce. Everyone gets water from the same well. Bathing is a 15-minute walk. In the summer heat, it is difficult to sleep without fans. The rainy season brings so much rain that the village’s generator often breaks down, cutting off internet and phone connections. The sound of the rain also disrupts broadcasts.
The areas Ja oversees are often the target of air strikes. Between February and May 2023, when she was traveling with an armed group in another part of Karen State, fighter jets frequently appeared overhead.
“I didn’t sleep well a single night,” she said.
Every time a plane flew overhead, she rushed to the bunker. She had heard bombs falling nearby and seen houses destroyed by explosions. The noise frightened her.
Tin Zar Aung, founder of Myanmar Women in Media, points out that the coup caused psychological problems for many female journalists. However, crossing the border had an immediate positive effect. In Myanmar, most of them suffered from sleep deprivation. In Thailand, they no longer feared night raids and slept better.
Questions about residence permits
According to the Migrant Working Group, to live and work legally in Thailand, a person must have a valid temporary residence permit, personal identification documents, a passport and visa or identity card (for non-Thais), and a work permit.
Of the displaced journalists interviewed by Prachatai, Mee holds an education visa, Ja has an identity card as a work permit for migrant workers, and Kay Zue has also applied to remain as a migrant worker.
Dahlia, a Karen journalist, was born in Karen State but moved to Thailand at the age of 10 because of the armed conflict in her homeland. She holds an Unregistered Persons’ Identity Card, which allows her to live in Thailand and move freely around the province. To leave the province, she must obtain permission from the district office.
Unlike journalists entering the country from other countries, they are not recognized as members of the press by the Thai state.
Ja recalls that it took her a long time to complete all the paperwork. She also recalls being harassed and treated rudely at the police station by the officers and the male interpreter. She was forced to unlock her phone so that the police could view her personal information, including pictures, videos and texts. The interpreter asked her if she was married, tried to ask her out on a date and also used her phone to call himself to get her number.
“I was scared and angry, but I didn’t react because I was afraid he would find a reason to arrest me. After all, I was at a police station,” Ja said.
Ja moved to Chiang Mai in 2023. She found the atmosphere of this tourist town different from that of the border town where she used to live. She was arrested there twice. Like other people from Myanmar, she is subject to strict control and blackmail by the authorities. After moving to Chiang Mai, she received documents that allow her to stay in Thailand and travel to other provinces. The whole process took a year. She feels safer now, but she cannot register or work as a journalist in Thailand.
I am still registered as an ordinary worker. As a journalist from Myanmar, it is still illegal to work in Thailand. I am still afraid that the police will raid our office and arrest us because we do not have permission to run a news agency.
