Junta targets migrant workers and persons with substance misuse for compulsory military service

May 30, 2024

HURFOM: Ye Township, Mon State must send 25 candidates for each batch of compulsory conscription military service, but only seven candidates were sent in the first batch in April, 2024. Only two candidates were sent in the second batch in May, 2024, according to sources close to the Ye Township Administrative Body.

The junta’s failure to conscript candidates for military service, is leading to administrators trying to persuade migrant workers and those with substance misuse issues to join the military by giving them money or business opportunities.

“In Ah Sin and Zee Phyu Taung villages, migrant workers from Phyar Pone (of Irrawaddy Division) and the upper Burma were substituted for local residents to undertake compulsory military service. In our villages, people are using illicit drugs as it looks like it’s officially allowed so village Administrators have manipulated this situation and persuaded these people (to join military service) by giving them money and opportunities (related to drug trade),” said a Ye resident.

The market of “substitution for compulsory military service” is very popular in every township of Mon State, with villagers having to pay even 5 million MMK per month for each substitute.

“All young men went abroad so no man is left in the village. Both the first and second batch mostly included migrant workers. Some parents who can’t control their sons because they are addicted to drugs have been forced to join military service,” said a source close to the village administration department.

200 candidates of the first batch and 50 candidates of the second batch have been trained at the advanced military training school in Well Ka Lee village, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News