Q&A
Photojournalist Mar Naw reflects on his travels earlier this year through southern Myanmar, where he documented a largely overlooked theatre of war.
Already an experienced photojournalist, Mar Naw has covered Myanmar’s post-coup conflict in areas including northern Shan State, Sagaing Region and Kayah State. Earlier this year, he went southeast to Mon and Kayin states and Tanintharyi Region. Travelling with resistance groups, he had the chance to document an often overlooked theatre in the country’s conflict.
Here he talks with Frontier reporter Naw Betty Han about what he witnessed during his trip, the risks he faced and the challenges he overcame. The interview has been translated from Burmese and edited for length and clarity.
Why did you become a photojournalist?
I participated in the 2015 student protests [against a new education law] and was arrested and imprisoned [in Bago Region’s Thayawady Prison]. Through this experience, I came to understand how important it is to record events on the ground and I started working as a photojournalist after I was released [in April 2016, after a year and one month in prison]. In the years before the coup, I documented the oppression of workers, farmers and students.
What do you think is the role of photojournalists in the post-coup conflict?
Many people don’t like photojournalists in Myanmar today. The junta certainly doesn’t like us, but armed revolutionary groups don’t like us either, because both want to control what appears in the news. Also, many media outlets are using pictures taken by “citizen journalists”, instead of those taken by professionals. Photojournalism is largely overlooked, but I think our pictures are important because they will become part of the historical record.
You have reported recently on the conflict in Myanmar’s southeast, including Kayin and Mon states and Tanintharyi Region. Why did you decide to focus on that area?
Not many journalists have reported from that part of the country. My decision to travel there came during the Three Brotherhood Alliance’s Operation 1027 in northern Shan State last year. I wanted to travel to northern Shan, but it was extremely difficult and it would have taken months of preparation. Also, the situation could change once I was able to go. So, I chose to go to the south instead, leaving in late March after contacting People’s Defence Force commanders [in the area].
Who did you know in the places you planned to visit?
For this trip I mostly linked with PDFs in the areas I visited. It was easier and faster for me to talk with my PDF comrades than with ethnic armed groups, because I have known the former for a long time [since before the coup].
What were the first steps you took in your journey?
First I went to Karen National Union Brigade 6 territory [in Kayin] and from there to the area where Mon, Kayin and Tanintharyi converge. The first village I visited was in Ye Township, Mon State, where I witnessed a monks’ donation ceremony. Life seemed normal there, even though there was fighting in nearby villages. Then I went south to areas under the control of revolutionary forces in Yebyu Township [in Tanintharyi].
One thing that surprised me during this trip was that I didn’t have to walk. When I visited northern Shan State and Karenni [Kayah] State I had to walk for hours, but in the south we visited areas controlled by revolutionary forces and the roads were safe. There were no military checkpoints. People living in villages without conflict seemed to go about their lives normally.
In Yebyu I made contact with the Dawna Column, a group operating under the National Unity Government that is quite powerful in Tanintharyi. One day, I accompanied them to see how they inspected vehicles on the Union Highway 8 [as covered in a recent Frontier feature]. Around 1pm some Dawna members were preparing hammocks to rest in a rubber plantation on the side of the road when someone in the group heard a plane coming, and within a few minutes there was an airstrike. Luckily it didn’t hit where we were, but it was close. The Dawna Column fighters and travellers on the road were in disarray, with people running in all directions. I had never experienced an airstrike so close and was quite scared. The initial bomb was followed by several others from the same jet fighter, and a helicopter came with machine gun fire. The assault lasted for about two hours and a PDF fighter was killed.
What was the military situation in that area?
There are many local PDFs, with the Dawna Column leading operations. These groups largely operate independently of each other, raising funds, administering their camps, recruiting troops and publishing news all on their own. But they cooperate when they conduct military operations. One of the battles I witnessed took place on April 12, when allied resistance groups attacked the Light Infantry Battalion 299 camp in Ye Township. Three hundred fighters from groups including the Dawna Column, local PDFs and the Mon State Revolutionary Force participated in the offensive. Residents of nearby villages had fled ahead of the battle, leaving them empty. I witnessed the battle quite closely, and could see the details of the camp fortifications while bullets hissed nearby. The commander of the joint revolutionary force was shot in the thigh and another was killed. Eventually the joint force had to retreat.
Where did you go next and who did you meet?
After about three weeks in Yebyu and Ye townships I went [back north] to Taungson village in Kyainseikgyi Township [in Kayin] on April 17. That day, revolutionary forces began attacking a light infantry battalion base in the village. The following day I went to take pictures of the battle, while embedded with soldiers from the Special Operations Force, a group created by the NUG with the aim of eventually doing missions in Yangon. The allied revolutionary forces eventually seized the base in Taungson on May 3. I saw injured and fallen PDF fighters, mostly from the SOF, and the bodies of dead [junta] soldiers. There I also met Saw Eh Say Wah, the leader of the Lion Battalion [which operates under KNU command, having previously served under the Kawthoolei Army]. He was lightly wounded. Something that grabbed my attention was how effective the hand-made bombs used by the revolutionary forces were. They were made using PVC pipes and were very light, so they could be dropped easily from drones.
What difficulties and challenges did you face?
As a freelancer I face many difficulties. I spend my own money, so I have to be very frugal. Foreign news agencies can hire their own cars, but I depend on the revolutionary forces for transport and have to go wherever they take me. Another problem is that I don’t have enough safety gear. There was another photojournalist travelling with me on the trip, and we had only one helmet between us and no bulletproof vests. Also, the revolutionary forces were reluctant to give information about their strategy. Another problem is communications. I could use the internet because the revolution forces have Starlink, but there was no [grid] electricity and not enough sunshine. This meant the solar power systems would only work for two or three hours, so we could only go online for limited periods.
Where else did you go after Kyainseikgyi, and what else did you find?
After Kyainseikgyi I went to Kawkareik Township [also in Kayin]. There I took photos of the Yangon Region PDF and the training of the Special Operations Group, another unit under NUG command. I saw military training in all the places I visited, and found that many of the trainees had joined the revolutionary groups because they wanted to avoid the junta’s conscription drive. After Kawkareik, I went to Kyainseikgyi again. The whole trip lasted for more than three months.
Overall, did the trip go as you expected?
Before the trip, I had intended to photograph the fighting on the ground. But while I was able to capture some of this, I also got to document military training, community life and other revolutionary activity. One memory is of my birthday, when the PDF fighters presented me with a cake and I blew out the candles. Some of these fighters have since passed away, while some of the trainees I met in Kawkareik have now joined the revolutionary struggle. My aim is to keep taking news pictures, whatever the circumstances.
