Just a month after the enforcement of the conscription law by the military junta, we heard heartbreaking incidents among the people.
After a young man aged 26 from Yetwin Chaung village in Kangyi Taung Township in Irrawaddy Region, was a lottery selection for military service on March 17, he committed suicide by drinking poison as he did not want to join the military service.
He was selected by lottery to join army conscription on the morning of March 17, but in the evening after the draw, he was hospitalized after drinking poison saying that he would die by joining the military.
Another tragic incident was a grandmother who jumped off the old Japan Bridge in Dawbon Township and committed suicide as she was traumatized by her grandson’s enlistment in the military.
The Ward Administrator of Yamonenar Ward (2) in Dawbon Township, Yangon, took a young boy aged 20 under the pretext of a selection pool of military service at night on March 19. After that, a traumatized 65-year-old grandmother of this young boy committed suicide in the morning the next day.
The people of Myanmar believe that the conscription law is a death sentence without exception. Receiving a summons for military service is considered a death sentence. The people do not accept the failed coup by Min Aung Hlaing and a handful of generals. It is even impossible that they would join the military and give their lives for dictators’ long existence.
Therefore, as soon as the enforcement of the conscription law on February 10, many young people who believed this is Min Aung Hlaing’s stupidity changed their lives as PDF comrades, as well as, many people left the country in the future. It is the first one that they do not join the military service. In the past, the image of young people separating from their family members at Yangon International Airport after going to work, school, and traveling may have a little bit of joy and nostalgia. Still, now, there is no laughter with worry about whether the family will be able to reunite and meet in the future. The conscription law is too troublesome for the people of Myanmar.
Starting from the second week of March, the junta’s administrative levels have already started the process of conscripting eligible youths from all over Myanmar into the military in various ways.
In some townships, the military service summons are sent, the application is filled out, and a medical examination is needed to be ready. If a person selected for military service runs away, his family members are threatened to be arrested. In some townships, draft-eligible youths are forced to draw lots of military service. If a youth gets the lottery for military service, he is forced to get ready to join the military as an unlucky man. In some townships, even if a person wins the vote, he can substitute another one in his place for military service, giving a bribe of money to the authorities. In some rural areas, there is a system in which the number of people allotted for military service per village would be hired by collecting money. So, it is disgusting with corruption, and it is like flies swarming in the dunghill called mandatory conscription law.
For the military junta, the law is only a surface show, and the junta makes an arrest and threat to people based on the enforced law. And the creativity of the corruption market is their habitual evil instinct.
However, the military junta will certainly open the forced recruitment of eligible youths into the army. According to the incident, residents in Kantbalu Township of Sagaing Region were forced to recruit as Pyu Saw Htee and were forced to fight to death PDFs in the frontline in 2023. According to the current incident, Muslim youths from the refugee camp in Kyaukphyu Township of Rakhine State have been forcibly given military training for 2 weeks and forced to fight to the death on the frontline. According to those accidents, the summons for military service is only an invitation to harbinger death as people believe.
Therefore, young people need to practically oppose conscription for military service in ways that suit their will and situation, like number one not joining the military service. It needs not to be forgotten that the enforcement of the conscription law forces young people to die for Min Aung Hlaing’s crazy dream of being president, as well as being the last exit of Min Aung Hlaing’s ability to work.