A daring, determined escape from the Myanmar army

Ko Phyo, a 29-year-old from Dawei in Myanmar’s southernmost region, never imagined he would become a foot soldier in the army that he so strongly opposed. He was among those who protested openly against the military forces’ actions after they deposed elected, civilian leaders and seized power in February 2021, then cracked down brutally on the people opposing them—one more offence adding to decades of oppression, violence, and mismanagement under their rule. In July of this year, nearly three and a half years after the coup, Ko Phyo found himself pressed into service for the army he had once demonstrated against in the streets. He was arrested while living in Thailand without proper documentation and was among the many young men held in military custody and forcibly sent to basic army training after his deportation back to Myanmar. In need of new troops as they fought on more and more fronts across the country, the military junta resumed the enforcement of a decade-old national conscription law in February of this year, requiring men between 18 and 35 and women between 18 to 27 to serve in the military. From Ranong to the army base As troops began to arrest participants in the anti-coup protests in Dawei, Ko Phyo fled to Ranong in southern Thailand, where he worked as a street vendor. He was arrested after three years in Thailand, and Thai authorities held him in a prison in Ranong for around two months before transferring him in a group of 100 detainees to the southern Myanmar border town of Kawthaung. The Myanmar immigration officers who took custody of them transferred 36 who were under the age of 35 to the Infantry Battalion 262 base, ostensibly to test them for monkeypox, according to Ko Phyo. However, he said, when they arrived at the base, an officer called “Bo Lay” (little lieutenant) ordered them to stand in a line and told them they were not there for a test. “He told us we would have permission to contact our families, but warned us not to try to leave, saying there were landmines around the area. He said we would be shot if we ran away and that many soldiers were surrounding us. That’s what he said,” Ko Phyo recalled. The captive men were all extremely upset, and Ko Phyo felt the same, he said, recalling that some even cried when they were taken to a dormitory to rest. “I was also very angry,” Ko Phyo said. “I was taken there against my will, not by choice. I felt powerless because I couldn’t fight back.” Although they were allowed to contact their families, Ko Phyo said the men were also forced to listen to junta propaganda from the officers. “They told us not to feel disheartened about being soldiers, saying we were defending our country and that we would be paid for it. They only spoke about how great they were. Then they made new identification cards for us,” he recalled, adding, “They gave medicine to those who were very unwell, and we were all required to undergo medical check-ups.” Young men who escaped mandatory service in the army pictured with members of the Karen National Liberation Army’s Brigade 4 (Photo: KNU Brigade 4) The trip to Myeik After a week, Ko Phyo and the others were transported in a naval vessel to a military base camp in Myeik, a town more than 200 miles north of Kawthaung in Tanintharyi Region. By then, there were 50 people in the cohort, including new recruits from Kawthaung. When they arrived at the camp in Myeik, Ko Phyo said he saw a jail cell near the entrance where they kept anyone they caught trying to escape after beating them. There were already nearly 200 recruits there, Ko Phyo recalled, and the new arrivals had their mobile phones confiscated when they reached the camp. The 250 young men slept in the barracks each night and gathered in a hall on the base’s grounds at 7am every day. They were made to stay in the hall all day, he said, listening to officers’ lectures and speeches. Later, the officers made them sign an agreement pledging their service to the army, Ko Phyo said, recalling that the document included their address, birthplace, and the name of a beneficiary who would inherit their possessions in the event of their death, Ko Phyo said. “I just responded to their questions, which included my education level and other similar details,” he said. “I also had to sign the document, give my fingerprints, and undergo a retinal scan.” Among the new recruits, who had been rounded up and sent to the army by junta-appointed ward administrators, there were people who clearly had mental disabilities, according to Ko Phyo, as well as people who had previously been charged with or arrested for criminal activity. “These were people who had broken the law,” he said, “They were not tried or imprisoned. Instead, they were given the choice to enlist as soldiers, and every one of them opted to join.” “Men found on the streets after curfew at night were also apprehended and sent to the army,” he added. “They were forced to sign up as soldiers, and their parents were not given the choice to pay bail for their release.” After staying for 15 days in Myeik, the 250 new recruits were taken by boat some 70 miles north to Palauk, Palaw Township. The army had planned for the cohort to receive military training at the 12th Command Central Training School in Palauk, but instead the sea journey from Myeik to Palaw Township served as an opportunity for many of the young conscripts, including Ko Phyo, to escape. The hijacking After a night at sea, the 250 new recruits who had been loaded onto the naval vessel, and the crew overseeing them, arrived at a spot on the coast called Palaw Chaung Wa on the mouth of the Palaw Creek in Palaw Township. The water was too shallow for the vessel to navigate, Ko Phyo recalled, so the troops put them on fishing boats. The first boat held 40 of them accompanied by one junta soldier with a rifle. Ko Phyo was one of the 30 men assigned to the second boat along with the two armed soldiers guarding them and a crew of four fishermen operating the craft. The elder of the two soldiers stood at the bow of the boat, while the other stood aft. Ko Phyo learned later that the army had forced the boats’ crews to put the vessels at their disposal. Despite the two soldiers’ presence on the boat, the young recruits found they could speak among themselves without being overheard. Speaking to their neighbours, they soon realised that almost no one there wanted to be in the army. Some of the recruits had been deported from Thailand, and others had been recruited forcibly from scattered towns and villages. “It was easy to come to an agreement since none of us wanted to be soldiers,” Ko Phyo said. “You could say all 30 of us were on the same page.” After a hushed conversation, they resolved to take the rifles from the soldiers and force them to jump overboard into the shallow water without harming them, Ko Phyo said. “There was a struggle. We didn’t shoot the rifles; we just tried to seize them. We knocked them down as they tried to stand, using the rifle butts to hit them. During the chaos, the old man fought back, attempting to take his rifle back, and he eventually succeeded,” Ko Phyo said, referring to the elder soldier. A shot rang out, and one of the young recruits fell, wounded. Seeing this, the rest of the group rushed the soldiers, carrying whatever they had found on the boat that could be used as a weapon. The older soldier was ultimately killed aboard the boat, Ko Phyo said, while the younger soldier escaped into the water. “He rolled off the boat but was still conscious. Unfortunately, after hitting the water, he struck the propeller and did not resurface,” Ko Phyo said. Doing as the young men asked, the fishing boat’s crew steered them to a spot on the bank far from the junta forces. Members of Brigade 4 during military training The difficult road to freedom When they anchored, the young man who had been shot remained behind on the boat, while the other 29 disembarked. Although they had found a place at a safe distance from the army, the terrain was muddy and difficult to negotiate, Ko Phyo said. They had to wade through deep mud up to their thighs for around two hours. The group had brought the rifles with them in case they needed to defend themselves, but otherwise had only the clothes on their backs, lacking even food and water. “It was drizzling at the time, so we lay down in the mud and drank the raindrops that fell into our mouths,” Ko Phyo said. “After that, we pressed on, resolving to escape their grasp. We told ourselves it would only be tiring for a little while longer and kept pushing ourselves forward with that thought.” Wading through the mud was the most nerve-wracking part of the whole journey, Ko Phyo recalled, because the whole time they were terrified of being spotted from the naval vessel offshore. “If the warship had fired on us from behind, we would all have died,” he said. “We were praying that it wouldn’t approach. Even though we were tired, we kept going, convinced that reaching the village would make it all worthwhile. While a small part of us was scared, our yearning for freedom was stronger than our fear.” Having crossed the muddy field, the men next had to find their way through a brackish swamp of mangrove palms. Some began to feel cramps in their feet and calves, and most of their legs were covered with scratches from the surrounding branches. After crossing the muddy field, the young men had to navigate through the mangrove palm forest. Some of them experienced cramps in their lower legs, and most had scratches on their legs from the branches. Two members separated from the group during their journey, leaving the remaining 27 to continue the hard slog towards freedom, Ko Phyo recalled. When they finally arrived outside of a village, the group was wary of entering it and decided to make camp in a nearby cemetery and observe what they could from a distance. A few finally ventured into the village, approaching a house to ask how to reach the resistance. The villager living there directed them to a row of houses within sight, advising them to ask for further guidance when they reached it. At the houses the villager had pointed out, the group met a member of the local defence forces, Ko Phyo recalled. “There was a middle-aged man there, and he told us we had come to the right place, because they were the defence groups fighting against the junta army. They invited us in,” he said. Still on their guard, the group watched the man closely. He was armed with a handgun that could hold nine rounds, but his calm manner immediately struck an obvious contrast with the soldiers who had ordered them around in the army camps, he recalled. The resistance offered the 27 young men clothes, and a woman in her 80s—who said she was a resistance fighters’ mother—cooked meals for them before resistance members led them to a base camp deep in the woods. News of the escape reached members of Brigade 4 of Karen National Union (KNU), a powerful anti-junta, ethnic political organisation that maintains a presence in Tanintharyi as well as Karen State and adjacent areas. Brigade 4 sent some of its members and brought the 27 escapees back to their base. According to a BBC news report, a junta spokesperson later claimed that the Karen National Liberation Army—the KNU’s armed wing—had attacked a boat carrying the recruits and captured them. From soldiers to resistance fighters According to Ko Phyo, the KNU members who met them offered to help them return home if they wished. “They asked us which resistance organisation we would prefer to join, if any. They assured us that we weren’t obligated to join the KNU and that all groups fighting against the regime were the same to them,” he explained. “They offered to bring us to whatever group we chose or to let us return home,” he continued. “Some chose to go to Thailand and others went home. About 20 of us stayed here.” Ko Phyo said that the men who chose to stay were committed to fighting for the resistance. “If we were to return home,” he said, “we would be running the risk of getting captured again or potentially getting killed. And similarly, if we returned to Thailand, we could be arrested by Thai police and extradited. With no safe haven, we had nowhere better to go.” Ko Phyo believed that fate had led him to join the fight against the military regime. While residing in Thailand, he had supported the resistance by donating money. Now, having reached territory outside the junta’s control, he was determined to fight actively against the junta for freedom, he said. “If, like us, you find yourself detained and in their hands, don’t be afraid. You don’t need to fear them. We all have the capacity to think and to resist,” Ko Phyo said.

A daring, determined escape from the Myanmar army

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