MYANMAR – Mr. Taik Tun Oo, the executive committee member of Political Prisoners Network Myanmar (PPNM) the junta prison authorities are collecting personal data of prisoners in prisons across the country and there is concern that those data will be misused for election fraud.
The junta council staff from the prison department reportedly collected the personal data of the prisoners, mainly covering the name, father’s name, age, citizenship scrutinization card number, address, and marital status, although the method of questioning differs from prison to prison. As the junta council is planning to hold its sham election, there is concern that the data of the prisoners will be used for election fraud even though prisoners don’t have the right to vote, or that the data will be used for forced military conscription.
“The thing is once the prisoners arrive at the prison, their data will be collected by the prison. That data is stored in their books, computer records, and at the office in Nay Pyi Taw. Collecting the data they already have is concerning for the prisoners. They are facing the threat of the junta council misusing the data for political exploit.
Even if it was just a census for the election, they might misuse the data of the prisoners to take political advantage,” explained Mr. Taik Tun Oo.
It is said that the collection of data was done by prison department staff and that the 32 items of data were already collected by the prison at the time of arrival. Although there are still some prisons that have yet to collect those data, PPNM said that they were told the data collection is planned for all prisons in the country.
