Last Friday, Myanmar police announced that they detained a Singaporean journalist and his fellow colleagues after they flew a drone over a parliament building in the capital city of Naypyidaw as part of an assignment for the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation.
Singaporean Lau Hong Meng, 43, and Malaysian journalist Mok Choy Lin, 47, are reportedly being investigated for breaching export and import laws, according to local media. Pictures of their drone and journalist visas were even published on the Facebook page of Myanmar’s Ministry of Information.
According to government mouthpiece Global New Light of Myanmar, the Singaporean and Malaysian journalists were planning to take pictures of the parliament buildings and pagodas in Naypyidaw when they were spotted by security guards.
Police also arrested Yangon-based photographer Aung Naing Soe, whose work has appeared in several international outlets, including Coconuts Yangon, where he was on staff from 2015 to 2016. Aung Naing Soe had been hired as an interpreter by Lau and Mok, and their driver Hla Tin was also detained. They will be held in custody until their first court hearing that will be focused on the drone, which Myanmar police noted was imported without permission. The charge carries up to three years in jail or a fine for the import and export of “restricted or banned goods” without obtaining a license.
According to a statement made to The Straits Times on Saturday afternoon, Lau and Mok remain at the Myoma Police Station. Aung Naing Soe and Hla Tin were sent to Pyinmana prison.
Though Aung Naing Soe’s coverage of issues affecting Myanmar’s Muslim communities and his religious background have made him a target for harassment by nationalist groups in his country, he has gained a reputation for his commitment to shining light on the country’s complexities through captivating photography.
“Aung Naing Soe is a hardworking journalist with impeccable credentials who has helped countless reporters cover Myanmar’s transition to democracy. I hope authorities realize he was simply trying to do his job and release him, the driver he worked with, and the two foreign journalists who hired him soon,” said Joe Freeman, a freelance journalist and friend who helped launch Coconuts Yangon in 2015.
On Friday evening, around 25 police and local officials raided Aung Naing Soe’s home without a warrant and seized his computer and memory devices. His mother told Reuters that the police tried and failed to gain access to his computer.
Several journalists have been arrested in Myanmar this year and charged for defamation or for their affiliation with “unlawful” organizations, calling into question the sincerity of press freedoms introduced at the end of direct military rule in 2011.
Earlier this month, a foreign tourist in Yangon had his US$1,400 drone permanently confiscated by security staff at Shwedagon Pagoda. He was not detained.
The arrests come amid tension between Turkey and Myanmar over the Rohingya crisis, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan declaring it a “genocide” perpetrated by the Myanmar government.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to comment on Lau’s detainment.
With text by Coconuts Yangon
