Township military conscription committees are not only compiling service lists but are also imposing financial collection on villages in Mon State’s Mudon and Kyaikmaraw townships. according to local sources.
According to local sources, the township military conscription committees are compiling lists of men aged 18 to 35 for conscription. Additionally, under the pretext of paying for labour substitutes, these committees are also collecting monetary contributions.
Currently, the villages in Kyaikmaraw Township, including Letpan, Kyonphanin, Kyonwan, Khayon, and Kyaikpayan, have been registered by the township’s military conscription committee. The committee includes military personnel, police, security party groups, and administrative leaders under their command.
“They came to collect the lists from yesterday. If three men aged between 18 and 35 live in a household, all three are registered. If there are four, all four are listed. Our village has 700 households, and more than 450 men have already been registered. Additionally, each household is required to pay 15000 kyats annually. This issue has been ongoing for over a year. The villagers believe that if they pay the money, they might escape conscription. Now, the conscription summons have started arriving. We have been told to go to the Township General Administrative office tomorrow for a meeting and discussion,” a local from Kyaikmaraw said.
Although the administrative committees claim that the collected funds are for hiring substitutes for military service, local villagers have raised questions regarding who exactly has been hired as substitutes and how the collected money has been utilised, as there has been no transparent accounting or clarification.
Similarly, although no formal conscription registration has yet taken place in villages across Mudon Township, ward administrators in the town have begun summoning eligible young men for meetings since late July. There have also been instances of money being collected under the pretext of hiring substitutes to serve in their place, a resident from Mudon said.
“In Mudon town, meetings have been held, and monetary collections are taking place. However, in the villages, nothing unusual has happened so far. The village administrators are making arrangements to keep things organised. But if they fail to find enough people in the coming weeks, the situation could worsen,” a resident from Mudon township added.
As participants listed in the civil conscription roster, when called upon by the General Administration Department office of the respective township to register, they must attend and complete the registration. If they fail to do so, actions will be taken against them according to the Civil Conscription Law. The civil conscription summons letter also contains threatening language regarding this matter.
After the military junta announced the Civil Defence Law, the batch (1) training began on April 1, 2024. As of now, up to 15 training batches have been conducted, and preparations are underway to open a 16th batch.
After completing the three-month civil conscription training, the required service period is set at 2 years. For those who are skilled, the service period can extend up to 3 years. In the event of a state of emergency occurring in the country, the military council has announced that the civil conscription period can be extended for up to 5 years.
