The military junta has instructed hostel tenants in Yangon Region to guard full time of day and night with two tenants per hostel on a rotation, according to hostel tenants.
“The junta comes to the hostel every day to check the guests, and they don’t let the guests stay overnight. Two people must stand guard in front of the hostel to ensure comings and goings, day and night ” a man living in a hostel in Mayangone Township told MPA.
Hostel owners and tenants are forced and threatened that they will take action if those do not comply with their instructions of recording personal information of the guests who come to hostels, he explained.
“Last December 2023, the junta ordered CCTVs to be installed in the front of hostels, so I had to install CCTVs in my hostel. At that time, they threatened to take action if hostel owners didn’t,” a hostel owner in Insein Township, added.
He continued that hostel tenants go to work at 6 O’clock in the morning and return to the hostel only at 5 p.m. in the evening or 9:00 p.m. at night, so it is very difficult to keep watch in the hostel for the whole day.
“We have to go to work all day, and it is not certain to rest on Sunday. If we are forced to guard outside the hostel all day, we will lose our job. If we miss work, our salary will be deducted, and if we have to keep watch, we will no longer stay at the hostel. Outside, we will gather and rent a separate house,” said a young man, a garment factory worker, who lives in a hostel.
In addition, the military junta reportedly is trying to organize the pro-junta militias in the townships of Yangon Region and has instructed people to patrol at night in relevant wards, and they reportedly are also forced to keep watch at a hostel two people per day the whole day.