The English language weekly news magazine Nikkei Asian Review (2013 to 2020) had a regular section called “Tea Leaves”, which posted short comments by a wide range of observers on different aspects of the regional scene. In 2016, it offered an opportunity to raise, once again, my concerns about the lack of intellectual rigour and objectivity in much of the reporting found on Myanmar.

There is something about Myanmar that encourages conspiracy theories and wild rumours. Not only does the country create them in abundance, but they tend to be picked up by the international news media and otherwise draw attention. If cited in academic works, they gain a credibility that most do not deserve.

To give two examples:

When a misguided American tourist swam, uninvited, across a lake in Yangon to the home of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2009, activist groups suggested that he had been put up to it by Myanmar's military intelligence service, to justify an extension of her house arrest beyond the 2010 elections.

And when President Thein Sein acknowledged Myanmar's myriad social and economic problems in 2011 and announced an ambitious reform program, some journalists and activists claimed it was merely a ploy to neutralize Suu Kyi and hoodwink foreign governments into believing the country was taking serious steps to change.

Both theories have been dismissed—rightly—by serious Myanmar watchers.

Myanmar also seems to encourage dramatic claims about broader strategic developments, despite a lack of evidence. For 15 years, Indian officials and Western analysts claimed that China was operating a large intelligence collection station on Myanmar's Great Coco Island. In 2005, India acknowledged that the story was, and always had been, completely baseless.

In 2009, it was claimed that Myanmar was developing a nuclear weapon, and by 2014 would be producing one bomb a year. There was a low-level nuclear research program but a weapon, particularly in that time frame, was a fantasy.

There are some genuine mysteries, however, that have long intrigued those with an interest in the country.

One is that, despite being the most powerful institution in Myanmar for half a century, the size, order of battle and combat capabilities of the country's armed forces remain largely unknown.