New conscripts forced to hand over phones as training begins

Young people forcibly recruited into Myanmar’s military are being denied access to their phones, according to relatives who say they don’t even know where the new conscripts are being held. While some with connections within military training centres have been able to establish contact, most have been unable to do so, sources told Myanmar Now. “We don’t know where my son is receiving training. The people who came to take him said he wasn’t allowed to bring a phone, so he had to leave it behind,” said the mother of one recruit from Naypyitaw. “All I know is that the administrator said he would be sent back home after three months of service,” she added. The junta’s conscription drive began in earnest in late March, with young people in many parts of the country being forced to undergo mandatory military training as part of an effort to replenish the army’s troop strength after three years of civil war. According to sources who have been able to contact new recruits, indoctrination is a key part of the training that they have been required to undergo. Before they are allowed to wash in the morning, the trainees are forced to read state-run newspapers and watch junta-controlled television channels, the sources said. Meanwhile, the military’s Myawaddy TV channel has begun broadcasting a new program about the training process, praising the new recruits as “model citizens” who willingly signed up for active duty in order to serve their country. According to the program, trainees were welcomed with a feast before beginning their training for “a proper lifestyle” based on discipline. It also claimed that their trainers never subjected them to verbal or physical abuse. In one episode, a new recruit said he and the others were told they would be allowed to choose where they wanted to be assigned to. “There’s no such thing as being sent to the front lines, like the rumours said,” he added. Despite such reassurances, it’s clear that many have no desire to serve in a military that has suffered heavy losses in the three years since its leaders seized power in a coup. This was evident recently when a group of recruits—mostly criminals who were given a choice between prison and a stint in the military—attempted to escape while being transported from a recruitment centre in Yangon’s Mingaladon Township to a training camp in Taungoo, some 160 miles to the north in Bago Region. A military officer who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity said the group of around 50 new recruits had been screened and deemed trustworthy before being sent to Taungoo in what he described as “small, secure vehicles.” A person who was travelling on the same road as the vehicles said he saw several people get away, while others were captured. According to state media reports, the military has opened a number of new training centres around the country, including in Bago, Magway and Tanintharyi regions, Shan State, and the regime’s capital Naypyitaw.

New conscripts forced to hand over phones as training begins

Recently recruited youths are also forced to undergo indoctrination as part of their preparation for military service

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