Chinland’s Forgotten War

“The greatest tragedy of Myanmar as a country is that it gets the headline for a week or two, and then it generally gets buried, because so many other things are happening,” Matt Davis explains. With this in mind, Matt decided to head to Chin State, one of the regions where the conflict has been among the worst, and report on the resistance movement. His work ultimately resulted in a feature on Australia Broadcasting Corporation’s popular current affairs program, Foreign Correspondent.

Matt was struck by how many ordinary young people from all walks of life had chosen to stand up to the military’s aggressions, no matter the risk or personal sacrifice. He recalls meeting a mother whose son had been injured attempting to disarm a landmine. When asking about her concern for her son in returning to the front, the mother was resolute that everyone must be willing to sacrifice, no matter what the risks.

Yet while Matt is inspired to see how normal civilians have managed to effectively resist their own military, he is disheartened by the continued lack of support from beyond Myanmar’s borders. “I think it's a question that we should ask of our governments, and to be prepared to demand that they do more.” Compared to the Ukraine, so much less support has been shown to the Burmese people, and they can’t understand why they haven’t received even a small part of such sympathy. They have begun to ask, “What about us?”

What Matt observed in Chin State is perhaps a microcosm of the wider movement now taking place across the country, and even outside, to support the emerging democracy movement. “There is only one goal now: that is to remove the military and restore democracy to the country of Myanmar. So that’s… what gives me hope that things might change. But it may still take some time, particularly if they're not supported by the international community.”