A battalion commander who defected to the resistance and fled to neighbouring Thailand recently returned to military custody, where he has appeared in junta propaganda aimed at dissuading other soldiers from abandoning their posts.
Lt-Col Myo Min Tun had temporarily headed Light Infantry Battalion 351 in Bago Region’s Kyaukkyi Township. He initially surrendered to forces belonging to the Karen National Union in Mutraw (Hpapun) District in neighbouring Karen State in late February—one of the few high-ranking commanders to have done so at the time.
He was then reportedly transferred across the Thai border, where he remained in hiding for six months, awaiting resettlement to a third country where he hoped to be granted asylum.
Myo Min Tun—who comes from the wartorn township of Depayin in Sagaing—spoke of his decision to join the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) following last year’s coup in an interview with the People’s Goal CDM assistance group, broadcast on March 20.
“Having to serve in the military, I couldn’t even go home to visit my mother. I was forced to fight against the public as a soldier, but I am now a rebel,” he said in the interview.
Sources close to Myo Min Tun described him as having been “depressed” and noted that he went missing from the Thai border in late September. On October 5, video testimony of him was shared on Facebook pages and Telegram channels typically used to disseminate junta propaganda, revealing that he had returned to the Myanmar military authorities.
In the video, he explained that he connected with the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) and Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw in March, who he alleged had coerced him into spreading false information about the military.
“After the military seized power, the terrorist NUG and NLD supporters hated me for no reason, threatened and treated me like an enemy,” he said in the video, referring to the National League for Democracy, whose elected government was ousted in the coup.
Myo Min Tun claimed that while commanding the Kyaukkyi battalion, he misused army funds and was unable to manage the personnel under him. He said he was encouraged to leave the military by NUG statements on social media saying that they would assist defecting troops in resettling abroad.
“I was forced to say untruthfully that soldiers were willing to join the CDM, which was done to disintegrate the army,” he said. “I left the army without asking for official leave and joined the CDM. I know I will have to face serious charges for my crimes, which include telling lies under the NUG’s orders.”
He added that he had contacted the military and asked to be repatriated.
Organisations representing soldiers who have joined the CDM—of whom the NUG estimates there are more than 3,500—released a joint statement on October 7 describing Myo Min Tun as a “traitor.”
Details surrounding his return could not be verified at the time of reporting.
Those who knew Myo Min Tun in Thailand speculated that he was frustrated with the long process required to determine his refugee status, and noted that he had struggled with a lack of finances and the separation from his family.
“The main factor was that he was really broke. He didn’t have any money on him when he left the military,” one of the sources said.
In the video statement released by the junta, Myo Min Tun warned other Myanmar army soldiers that anti-coup resistance forces were unable to fulfil promises to defectors to support their applications for resettlement abroad.
“I witnessed the situation of the CDM personnel, including soldiers and police who had defected and who crossed the border to Thailand… who feel emotionally insecure on a daily basis, face difficulties surviving, and who have become stateless, with no future,” he said, concluding that the NUG had “used” individuals such as himself to “spread propaganda.”
A former Myanmar army captain who served in the military’s intelligence service before joining the CDM suggested that Myo Min Tun’s return to Myanmar may not have been voluntary. He dismissed such a move as “senseless,” given the severity of the punishment he would have been aware that he would face for his defection.
He speculated that the junta may have made threats to Myo Min Tun’s family members still in Myanmar, or that his location in Thailand had become compromised and he may even have been kidnapped or forcibly returned.
“Considering that he was a battalion commander, the military appears to be very worried about more soldiers from lower ranks following in his footsteps and joining the CDM. I think that’s why the military hunted him down and brought him back,” the captain, who has been granted asylum abroad, told Myanmar Now.
“I think the military is going to make an example out of him so that no one dares to desert the army again,” he added.
![Resistance fighters holding heavy weapons ammunition in central Myanmar. (Photo: Freedom Revolution Force [FRF])](https://myanmar-now.org/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/04/438869056_443267851680128_1706386881626943924_n-390x220.jpeg)
