Myanmar civilians terrorised by junta’s nightly home visits seeking out ‘unregistered guests’

Despite living in Naypyitaw, the city with the most regular electricity supply in Myanmar, Aye turns off all the lights in her house every evening, taking extra care not to be illuminated indoors by the nearest street light, 20 steps away. When Myanmar military troops conduct “overnight household guest registration checks” in her rural ward of the junta-controlled capital, it is best to pretend not to be home, she said. The routine is a regular source of stress for residents, who face arbitrary interrogation, detention, and extortion if they arouse the suspicion of soldiers. The military personnel check that every individual in the residence—particularly outside visitors—has reported their presence to the local military authorities and hold the junta-issued papers to prove it. “We wait our turn in fear because they make arrests as they please if anyone is missing any of the documents that they want,” she explained. Aye said that she only sleeps after she has ensured that the official list of the members of her household and any required guest registration documents are by her side. The barking of dogs from the darkness has become a warning sign that soldiers are likely patrolling the area and could demand entry to her home at any time. Her neighbour remembered that one night, a group of some 20 troops and police officers came to the ward unannounced, aggressively entering each house with the local administrator. “They had our house surrounded by fully armed personnel,” he said, adding that they kicked in the doors while shouting, pointing their guns at those inside and threatening to arrest them “if every single person in the house did not come out.” Another woman from the ward recalled a similar experience, where she and her relatives were questioned and verbally abused by the soldiers, who took photos of people in her home that they deemed “suspicious.” “It didn’t feel like a lawful activity—more like they were looking for criminals. I don’t like that they took photos of us but there was nothing we could say or do,” she said. “When they came, both my husband and son were away from home and they asked where they had gone, what they did for a living, and how long they had been away for.” Another local said that the troops typically check “every house that has lights on” and send residents “straight to jail” if they find an individual present who has not been properly registered as a guest with the local junta-appointed authorities. After such an arrest, bribes or court fines are typically required to secure one’s release, Naypyitaw residents explained. The amount required for payment is often determined by the individual’s occupation or perceived financial standing, and can range from 70,000 to 100,000 kyat (US$33 to $48). Junta soldiers and police officers conduct overnight guest registration checks in Thar Paung Township, Ayeyarwady Region, in December 2022 (Junta information office) Nationwide extortion, arrests The practice exists throughout the country. A man from Chanmyathazi Township in Mandalay told Myanmar Now that he had to pay 60,000 kyat ($29) per day in overnight guest registration fees for an entire year, most of which was reportedly pocketed as bribes known as “documentation fees.” “[The personnel carrying out the checks] even said that they would only submit 20,000 kyat ($10) [to the authorities] while keeping the rest for themselves,” he said. In Aung Pinlay ward, where the man lives, the checks have started to be carried out during the day, with the military raiding homes, tea shops, restaurants, and karaoke bars. On a single day in late February, they arrested some 17 people from such sites. “Only civilian youth were arrested—they weren’t even affiliated with anti-junta forces,” a local from the ward said. “We still haven’t been able to identify some of them as they had come to work in tea shops and karaoke bars from their hometowns in rural places.” The young men had to be bailed out by their employers and relatives at the Aung Pinlay administration office and police station the next day; only those who paid were reportedly released. The military similarly arrested some 30 internally displaced persons during an overnight guest registration check at the foot of Mandalay Hill in Nweni village in early February, because they were not registered at the location at which they had sought refuge from a junta offensive. They were reportedly still in detention at the time of reporting, but their whereabouts remain unknown. In Maha Aungmyay Township, also in Mandalay, residents told Myanmar Now that the guest registration checks have been carried out daily at around midnight by a group of 20 police officers, military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia members, and ward administrators. One man recalled witnessing these men shout at eight young displaced women from the resistance stronghold of Kani Township in Sagaing Region who had come to Mandalay to work at a local garment shop. “Military personnel made them sit in front of them, holding their identification cards. The girls were crying, because they were scared and the officers were yelling at them very loudly,” the man said of the incident, which reportedly took place in early February. In Ayeyarwady Region, where the junta has largely retained control, the guest registration checks are more calculated, a local woman said. There, the military reportedly chooses which houses to inspect in advance—apparently already aware of the political backgrounds and affiliations of those inside. She said that out of 100 households in her village, which she asked not be named, only three homes had been subjected to the threatening junta nighttime visits: that of a long-term political prisoner, a former government staff member in hiding, and a journalist. On these visits, the military personnel typically ask for photos of every family member from various points in their lives, including graduation portraits, causing many people to hide or destroy cherished pictures of their loved ones who may be targeted by the regime. Legal history Myanmar’s overnight guest registration law dates back to 1907, when the country was under British control. The statute was designed to catch those who had rebelled against the colonial administration and were on the run, as well as deter locals from hosting them in their homes. Some 80 years later, military dictators relied on the law to apprehend political dissidents after the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the student movement of 1996, and the 2007 monk-led Saffron Revolution, all aimed at ending prolonged army rule. Mandalay residents protest the military coup in March 2021 (EPA) The original overnight guest registration act was abolished during the government headed by ex-general Thein Sein in 2012, but that same year the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs enacted a new overnight guest registration requirement under the Ward or Village Tract Administration Law. Heavily criticised by civil society and rights groups, it, like its colonial-era precedent, required residents to obtain permission from local authorities to host visitors and gave these authorities access to personal information about members of their household. In 2016, the elected National League for Democracy repealed the law, but five years later its own administration was ousted in the February 2021 military coup. The junta then re-enacted the statute, using it to hunt down those opposed to its claim to power. It is known that since the coup, the junta has appointed paid informants dedicated to observing and documenting the arrival of outsiders in their local wards, particularly in the commercial capital of Yangon. There, locals across four townships told Myanmar Now that overnight guest registration checks were systematically carried out by local authorities after unfamiliar people had been spotted in the area. In Naypyitaw, Aye continues to stand guard in her own home each night, instructing her middle school-aged sons to use dim lights in their room to study in the evenings, but to never turn on those in the living room or on the balcony. “Why do we not get to feel safe in our own homes?” she asked.

Myanmar civilians terrorised by junta’s nightly home visits seeking out ‘unregistered guests’

Military personnel pocket major bribes while carrying out threatening searches for unregistered overnight visitors in homes throughout the country

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