Su Chay Journalist Profile

Articles

What does the Arakan Army’s victory in Rakhine State mean for the Rohingya?

Jan 16, 2025 | myanmar-now.org | Su Chay

With exploding bombs and shells still audible in the distance, Mohamed* has had little choice but to bide his time since August in a village under the control of the Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township, where he fled after clashes between the AA and Myanmar military forced him out of his home. The village, some six miles outside of Maungdaw’s urban centre, now hosts around 1,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in addition to its 1,500 longtime Rohingya residents.
For Rohingya women, nowhere is safe

Nov 25, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Su Chay |Mohammed Zonaid

“My village was under a genocidal attack. We had no escape but to run to Bangladesh.” Anika*, 29, recalled how she had fled her home—located in Buthidaung Township’s Taung Bazar village in northern Rakhine State—along with her husband and daughter in 2017, escaping the lethal, targeted violence of a “clearing operation” that the Myanmar military carried out on August 25.
Elephant camps in Thailand, a sanctuary for Myanmar’s displaced

Nov 21, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Su Chay

From police station to elephant homeAmong the many migrant workers is La Khun, a 28-year-old former policeman from Karenni State, whose weathered face gives him the appearance of an older man. La Khun’s life took an unexpected turn after he joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a boycott campaign by Myanmar government staff to overthrow military rule. After fleeing to an IDP camp, he now works in an elephant home in Thailand, assisting tourists with rafting and ziplining.
Myanmar Buddhist nuns caught in the crossfire of war

Oct 9, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Su Chay

On an evening in late June, as the clamour of the day’s gunfire faded, Daw Khaymar,* a 44-year-old Buddhist nun and teacher, was preparing for bed at her nunnery in Mogok when a group of armed men appeared at her door. “It was a group of TNLA soldiers, forcing us to leave the nunnery immediately,” she told Myanmar Now on September 11.
‘We have no hope in Myanmar’ - A rebel and a journalist in love and on the run

Sep 12, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Su Chay

Subscribe to the Myanmar Now daily newsletter. It's free. Sign up >In late July, anti-junta forces captured Mogok, Myanmar’s world-renowned ruby-mining town in northern Mandalay Region, marking an expensive loss for the overstretched military. In the mountainous surroundings of “the valley of rubies,” source of the blue sapphire and coveted “pigeon-blood” ruby, Khayra and Thu Rein met, both 25, each forging their own path of resistance to the coup regime.
More Rohingyas die as fighting in northern Rakhine intensifies

Aug 22, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Su Chay |Mohammed Zonaid

The conflict for control of northern Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township is continuing to claim the lives of Rohingya civilians, with more dying on Sunday during an attempt to reach Bangladesh. According to survivors and local rescue workers, the victims were aboard a boat that capsized as it was carrying 36 refugees across the Naf River, which forms part of the border between Myanmar and its neighbour to the north.
Telecoms blackouts aggravate Myanmar civilians’ suffering in horrific war

Aug 16, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Su Chay

Names and identifying details in this article have been changed to protect our sources’ security. For more than a week and a half, Maung Lu, a 28-year-old office employee in Yangon, has been unable to reach his girlfriend who lives and works in the northern jade mining town of Hpakant, Kachin State. “The last time I spoke with her on the phone was July 21, around 9am,” he said. “When I tried to call her again at lunchtime, I couldn’t get through anymore.
Flooding across much of Myanmar adds to woes of war-displaced civilians

Jul 30, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Su Chay

Civilians displaced by conflict are facing severe challenges as torrential rains continue to cause heavy flooding across much of Myanmar, according to relief workers. On Monday, junta-controlled state media outlets reported that the regime has assisted tens of thousands of people in flood-affected areas of Yangon, Bago, Ayeyarwady, Tanintharyi, and Sagaing regions and Mon, Karen (Kayin), and Karenni (Kayah) states.
With few options left, Rohingya people trapped in western Myanmar prepare for the worst

Jun 21, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Su Chay

*Myanmar Now has changed or omitted personal names and other identifying information in this text to protect our sources’ security The Arakha Army released a statement in mid-June addressing the mostly Rohingya Muslim inhabitants of Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State, urging them to vacate the area as soon as possible for their own safety. The warning was issued on Sunday, the same date that the Islamic holiday of Eid-al-Adha was to begin at sunset.
Myanmar junta forces massacre scores of civilians outside Sittwe

Jun 6, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Raung Ni |Su Chay

The names of sources quoted in this story have been changed to protect their security. “They told us they meant us no harm and just wanted to talk,” a civilian woman in Rakhine State said, recalling how a day of bloodshed and unimaginable horror began with junta soldiers promising she would be safe.