In apparent effort to facilitate conscription, Myanmar junta officials conduct youth survey in Yangon

Regime officials have begun collecting data on people between 18 and 35 years old in some Yangon townships, seemingly in preparation to enforce their new policy of forced recruitment for military service, local sources said. The officials seemed to be especially interested in gathering information–including names and phone numbers–from males of conscription age, according to a 19-year-old man living in Dagon Township. They told people they planned to take further action following the Thingyan holidays, which are observed from April 13 to 17, he added. "It was about getting the exact full names and phone numbers of people in the eligible age range for military service,” the young Dagon Township resident said. “They added the names and phone numbers to their list, then told us that we were not allowed to travel. They said they would contact us again by the end of April but did not specify an exact date." Personnel from the junta-controlled ministry of immigration and population conducted a similar survey in wards 9, 10, and 11 of Hlaing Tharyar Township starting on Saturday, according to locals. “They requested the ages, names, and phone numbers of people who appeared to be in the eligible age range for military service. They did not give a reason,” a Hlaing Tharyar resident told Myanmar Now. According to a ward elder in South Dagon Township, the officials are not following their superiors’ orders, but rather seeking personal information from young people on their own initiative. “This is not a uniform enumeration in accordance with official instructions,” he said. “Some administrators are simply compiling the lists in advance, anticipating that their superiors will request the information soon.” Junta soldiers and police have reportedly been compiling lists of residents in Thingangyun and South Okkalapa townships since late February, just weeks after the military council announced plans to enforce Myanmar’s conscription law. “What I saw firsthand was that in Ward 12 of South Okkalapa, an office clerk and another person were collecting information for the list,” aid a resident of South Okkalapa Township. “At Nga Moe Yeik Ward in Thingangyun Township, there were household member registration checks, and everyone was asked to come down so they could verify how many men and women there were,” the South Okkalapa resident added. Officials were also gathering the names of people between 18 and 35 in Yangon’s central townships such as Pazundaung and Botahtaung. According to residents, in some townships all the members of each household had to convene outside their homes and send group photos to the ward administration office. “The ward elder checks whether the people on the household list match the people they met outside face to face. The entire family has to get their picture taken, and the picture is then sent to the ward administration office,” a Pazundaung Township resident explained. “In some wards, the ward administration office calls a meeting and requires all the people in the household to attend.” While the authorities did not give an explicit reason for collecting citizens’ information, Yangon residents believed their intent was to facilitate the conscription policy for mandatory military service that the regime plans to carry out starting in April. In regime-run newspapers, the military council claimed on March 11 that the reason officials are conducting the surveys is to aid law enforcement in Yangon. Following a string of battlefield defeats, the military council announced on February 10 that it would enforce a decade-old law requiring all citizens within the eligible age range to enlist for military service. The junta hastily formed recruitment committees at the union level and state and regional level, as well as training centres, to implement the conscription policy. The junta’s spokesperson Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun said citizens would be called up for service in batches of 5,000, and that plans were in place to summon the first batch in April after the Thingyan festivities. Zaw Min Tun said that there were no current plans to implement the conscription policy for women, although they are eligible for service under the recruitment law. The law mandates that all adults between 18 and 35 serve in the army for up to two years, with a narrower age range for women but a broader age range and longer service requirement for professional “specialists.” The junta claimed 14 million of Myanmar’s people are currently eligible for service. Evasion of or refusal to abide by the service requirement is punishable by a prison sentence of up to five years. Some young people have made plans to join armed resistance groups to escape serving the junta, while others are seeking any available means to leave the country. In its urgent need for manpower, the military regime is enforcing not only the conscription law but also the old Reserve Forces Law, which requires veteran servicemembers to reenlist after being discharged or retiring from the armed forces. Bago region Chief Minister Myo Swe Win presenting awards for achievement during militia training on March 10. (Photo: Junta’s Ministry of Information) The junta is also continuing to form and equip citizens’ militia groups known as Pyu Saw Htee in the areas under its control. On March 10, Bago Region’s Chief Minister was observed visiting militia recruits undergoing basic military training in Bago Township.

In apparent effort to facilitate conscription, Myanmar junta officials conduct youth survey in Yangon

In addition to requesting the names and phone numbers of people of conscription age, officials are planning further action after the Thingyan holidays in April

Subscribe for full access

Myanmar charity worker who built a lifeline for the poor loses it all after military coup

Fear grips Mandalay as junta-backed militias and kidnappers prey on residents

For Myanmar migrants in Thailand, hope is a 100-baht lottery ticket

‘Will it be different this time, Grandson?’

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

At least two killed in blast in Myanmar’s Rakhine state capital

Nighttime junta airstrike kills 2 and injures 6 in Pauktaw Township

Suu Kyi speaks to son for first time in more than five years

Six women killed by Myanmar junta airstrike in Budalin