Danger of Disinformation and False Narratives in Buthidaung Incident, Arakan

By Moe Satt, GAN

Shortread: Opinions                                                                          July 7, 2024

A famous quote from an American writer and philosopher Mark Twain said;

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

This is exactly what happened during the Buthidaung incident in northern part of Arakan. Mechanized and coordinated networks of Muslim diaspora activists plus easy-believing international media outlets become the key contributors of fake news and false narratives. These actions are rather harmful toward the resistance forces like the Arakan Army and local Muslim community members themselves. Very often, even some responsible high profiles like the spokesperson of the UN Human Rights Office participated in that destructive mechanism of distributing worrisome and unfounded news.

What exactly happened in Buthiduang?

On April 12, two Arakaneses killed with their throats slit, and from April 11-21, houses, and properties of Arakanese, Hindus and other non-Muslim were burnt down and looted. Then, on April 26, ULA released curfew in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships.  On May 4, AA captured the MOC (15) and detained Muslim militants along with junta soldiers. Four days later, ULA rescued around 7,000 Muslim IDPs in Buthidaung. On May 14, the AA rescued 35 Muslims including women and children arrested in LIB (353) depriving of food for 3 days.

On key dates such as May 17-18, some of the rest houses in urban Buthidaung were burnt down due to the junta air strikes and arson attacks by the Muslim militants to halt AA’s offensive. On the next day, on May 18, AA captured all junta battalions and military positions in Buthidaung township. AA rescued 166 Muslims including women and childrens in Buthidaung. Two days later, ULA/AA released a statement to explain the situation in Buthidaung inviting the independent media to visit the ground. All primary sources of these news and events could be found in the telegram channel like “AAinfoDesk.”

Uncovering False Narratives and Disinformation

Some of the prominent Burmese media that spread false message and disinformation on the Buthidaung incident included 1) DVB (English Edition), 2) RFA (Burmese Edition), 3) BBC (Burmese Edition), 4) Aljazeera (English Edition) and finally, 5) several statements released by the Muslim diaspora groups and pro-Muslim interest groups under the banner of CSOs.

Start with the following figure and news (Figure-1) that covered the incidents happened in Buthidaung during May 17-18, 2024. DVB repeatedly used the photo mentioning how the market of Buthidaung had been burnt down by the AA’s actions. A well-noticed Muslim activist who lives in Germany also distributed the news. But, the fact of the matter is that this photo mentioned in the news related to Buthidaung is actually the incident happened in Sane town of Kyaukphyu township in central Arakan on May 10 in which the junta drone strikes injured some civilians and burnt down the market in the town.

Figure-1

The second photo (Figure-2) also uncovered the truth in which both RFA and BCC used a photo mentioned the Buthidaung incident about the death of Muslim and burning of Buthiduang. However, this photo is actually taken from Myanmar Now news that covered incident regarding the burning down of a hospital in Mindat, Chin state on April 26.

Figure-2

Then, as the third example, a statement jointly released by the so-called 195 CSOs also included wrong facts and false narrative. As seen in Figure-3, a statement mainly led by Khin Ohmar of Progressive Voice (PV) said that there were incidents of whole Muslim village burnt down, massacre, and armed clashes killing around 100 Muslim militants near Angumaw, Rathedaung township whereas none of these events actually happened.

Figure-3

Then, a similar statement by several Muslim diaspora groups can be seen in Figure-4. In that statement, the Muslim diaspora groups mentioned that the AA looted properties from the Muslim residents of Buthidaung before burning down the houses. But, in reality, the precaution and early warning activities were actually performed by the Muslim officers of the ULA administration.

Figure-4

Last but not least, the news covered by the famous Aljazeera on May 25, 2024 was the worst of all as found in Figure-5. The news agency used a photo that was actually about the fire broken out in No-13 refugee camps inside Bangladesh on May 24, 2024.

Not only that, there is no such event like some 45,000 people flee into the border areas with Bangladesh. This story is only artificially created by the spokesperson of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Liz Throssell because there is no evidence to prove it.

Figure-5

Indeed, the incidents that actually took place in Buthidaung were the opposites what the international media and pro-Muslim interest groups would like to state. There was no a targeted attack against neither the Muslim, a particular religion or a particular ethnic group.

See Figure-6 and Figure-7 below. The number of Muslim houses destroyed in urban Buthidaung is just less than 20 percent of all, and more interestingly, (as seen in Figure-7), there is only one Islamic religious building among 23 religious sites destroyed. The fact of the matter is quite the opposite. The majority of civilian houses burnt down are the ones owned by Arakanese and mainly Buddhist and Christian sites among the religious infrastructures.  

Figure-6

Figure-7

In summary, it is safe to argue that the danger of disinformation and false narratives that happened in Buthidaung incident could be expressed as a ‘textbook examples of disinformation’ so that other observers and new generations could learn how dangerous fake news could easily spread in the 21st century’s media landscape and social media platforms.