Fear and Intimidation Rise in Mon State as Junta Deploys Militias to Secure Control Before December Election

September 8, 2025

HURFOM: In Mon State, the Junta-appointed Chief Minister, U Aung Kyi Thein, has ordered officials to ensure that there are “no disturbances or obstacles” during the regime’s planned sham election in December 2025. His directive, issued on 4 September at a meeting in the Mawlamyine Government Office with state-level department staff, underscores how the junta is weaponizing security forces and militias to tighten control over communities.

Local residents told HURFOM that militias and junta-backed “People’s Security Forces” are being armed and granted broader authority in the lead-up to the election. Rather than protecting the public, these groups act like thugs, roaming streets drunk, extorting villagers, and intimidating youth. Their empowerment is linked to the Junta directive from February 2023, which allowed those deemed “loyal to the state” to legally carry firearms, including militia members. As one government employee explained: “The policy is meant to reward loyalty. It hands guns to those who pledge allegiance to the regime.”

For ordinary people, this escalation has translated into growing fear and insecurity. Residents across Ye, Bilin, Thaton, and Kyaikmayaw Townships describe arbitrary checks, forced payments, and the constant threat of being detained by militia groups or military patrols. In some cases, young men are dragged into junta trucks at night or forced onto the frontlines as human shields. Families live under the shadow of enforced disappearances and fear reprisals for refusing to cooperate with election preparations.

Analysts note that the junta’s militarization of daily life is tied to its electoral strategy. By expanding constituencies and asserting control in contested Mon and Karen areas, the regime hopes to stage elections in places where resistance forces and federal units already have legitimacy. A local researcher from Kyaikmayaw commented: “It is not about democracy. The election is just a tool to consolidate power. Giving weapons and privileges to militias increases repression while silencing civilians.”

These preparations mirror wider patterns across HURFOM’s target areas. Security has been ramped up at administrative offices and checkpoints, with harsher restrictions on movement. Residents describe extortion at roadblocks and raids that result in looting and confiscation of property. For many, the so-called “election security” feels like another form of occupation. As a Mawlamyine resident put it: “Officials talk about safety, but the only thing we see is more fear. People are not interested in this election. They want to survive, not to vote.”

The junta has announced that elections in Mon State will be held in five townships, Kyaikto, Thaton, Mawlamyine, Chaungzon, and Kyaikmayaw, on 28 December 2025. Eleven political parties, including the USDP and Mon Unity Party, are expected to contest. Yet, with militias empowered, freedoms crushed, and people living in daily fear, these preparations reveal only the regime’s determination to cling to power, not the will of the people.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News