Loudspeakers used to pressure wards in Mandalay’s Myingyan to provide one recruit each for military conscription

Photo: A military training ceremony held by the military junta. In Myingyan town, Mandalay Region, local residents say that administrators are using loudspeakers to pressure people to serve in the military at a rate of one person per ward. (MOI)

Mizzima

Ward administrators in Myingyan, Mandalay Region, are reportedly patrolling neighbourhoods and using loudhailers to pressure residents into providing one recruit per ward for the military, according to local sources.

A resident stated that the loudspeaker announcements began in every ward on the night of 6 September, adding that households are also being forced to pay monthly conscription fees.

“Since they can no longer easily abduct pedestrians on the streets of Myingyan, they are now going around with loudhailers, announcing that every ward must provide one person for military service. We also had to pay money in previous months,” a Myingyan local told Mizzima.

Depending on the ward, households in Myingyan are reportedly forced to pay between 30,000 and 40,000 MMK (Myanmar Kyat) per month.

Furthermore, if married children live in the same house as their parents, they are classified as two separate households – one for the married couple and one for the parents – meaning they are forced to pay double the amount.

Despite these financial collections, local residents reported that junta forces still frequently abduct and conscript youths sitting at teashops and passersby on the streets.

“It’s not just youth they are taking; even underage kids of 14 or 15 are being abducted. Thida Yu Mon, a pro-junta influencer, claims that they don’t collect military service fees or abduct people for forced conscript service, but they have arrested so many people lately. They have been sent to Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 15,” a local resident told Mizzima.

Out of fear of forced conscription, the majority of military-service-eligible youth in Myingyan have fled abroad. Consequently, only a small number of young people remain in the town, and even they avoid going outside after evening falls.

Currently, the military junta has imposed a “Four Cuts” style blockade on Myingyan Town and surrounding villages, restricting the movement of people, motorcycles, and cars. Additionally, they have banned the purchase of fresh produce, dry grocery, and other commodities from the villages, while also blocking villagers from traveling to the town to buy rice.

Up to this September, the military junta has been frequently conducting forced recruitment drives not only in Myingyan, Meiktila, and Sagaing, but also in major cities like Yangon and Mandalay.