Young people subjected to conscription lottery in Mandalay

Drawings to select recruits for mandatory military service took place on Monday at ward-level administration offices throughout Mandalay’s Maha Aungmyay Township, according to local sources.Around 50 soldiers, members of pro-junta militias, firefighters, and others stood outside each office for security purposes as the lotteries proceeded. According to a resident of one of Maha Aungmyay Township’s wards, ward-level administrative staff are overseeing the lotteries as well as summoning civilian families to take part by entering the names of their conscription-age members. “Armed soldiers are there to ensure security, and Pyu Saw Htee members and firefighters are positioned around the office to guard the area too. There are CCTV cameras set up as well. Approximately 50 people are assigned to each office,” she confirmed.She added that the lottery will select recruits not only for the upcoming cohort of military trainees—Batch 12—but for future batches as well.“The lottery isn’t only for Batch 12. Each person draws a number, and if your number falls between 1 and 100, you’ll be conscripted for the current batch. The higher your number, the later your conscription will be. In other words, drawing a lower number means you’ll be called up sooner.”No one eligible for conscription is exempt, but families are allowed to draw lots on behalf of their eligible members. If no one in a given household attends the lottery in compliance with the summons, the ward administration staff draws their lots for them, announcing the results on a loudspeaker.According to the same woman, it remains unclear whether the administration has included the names of administrators’ or military officers’ children and relatives in the lottery.Following the lottery, family members are required to sign a pledge letter stating they will not attempt to evade conscription. Authorities said those who failed to comply after signing the letter would be arrested. Members of the pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militias have also threatened further consequences for any families who flee to evade conscription of one of their members, according to a man living in eastern Maha Aungmyay Township.“It hasn't been officially confirmed yet, but there are rumours going around that family members will be arrested if someone flees, and their houses will be sealed off,” the man said. New conscripts arriving at the military’s central command headquarters in photos circulated on pro-junta Telegram propaganda channel this month A woman in her 30s from Maha Aungmyay Township explained that most young people are reluctant to draw lots in person, and have their relatives draw lots on their behalf, because they fear the military will press them into service on the spot, forcing them into the current recruitment cohort immediately if they draw a low number. “Some parents said they are old and aren’t willing to give up their children,” she added. “They said they would go to jail on their behalf, as the law requires. They’re worried and crying.”The lotteries were held only in Maha Aungmyay Township on Monday, and had been held in several of Mandalay’s Myo Thit (“new city”) wards as well as in Pyigyitagon Township over the previous few days. The Myanmar military, which is fighting against resistance forces and ethnic armed organisations on multiple fronts throughout the country, has enlisted 50,000 new recruits in 10 batches of 5,000 each.Instances of desertion as well as capture, injury, and death have been recorded among the new recruits.The conscription law or so-called People’s Military Service Law was initially drafted and enacted during the regime of former military dictator Than Shwe. The current regime chief Sen-Gen Min Aung Hlaing decided to revive and reimplement it in February 2024, three years after the coup he led.The law authorises the military to draft men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve in the military for a period of up to two years. For those in skilled professions such as doctors, craftspeople, engineers, and others, the eligible age range extends to 45 years for men and 35 for women.The military has also restricted eligible people from leaving the country without prior authorisation. During a visit to Kalaw, southern Shan State on March 20, the junta’s second-in-command Vice-Senior General Soe Win admitted to hearing reports of corruption in the conscription process.While he defended the work of the central conscription committee—the Body for Summoning People’s Military Servants—as adhering to the law, he said administrators at lower tiers in the hierarchy had accepted bribes.

Young people subjected to conscription lottery in Mandalay

Locals said young people avoid attending the drawings in person, fearing they will be forced immediately into the next batch of troops unless their family members draw lots on their behalf

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