YANGON DIVISION – Junta forces and the administration officer were reported to have summoned the residents of Nyaungwine Village Tract in Kyaukdan Township to a meeting and threatened them to serve in the military or pay.
Soe Min Aung, the junta administration officer for Myaingtharyar Ward 3 in Nyaungwine Village Tract summoned the residents to a meeting at Aye Say Di Monastery around 1 p.m. on November 23. The meeting was also attended by the junta column commander stationed at Babwaygone Village in Kyaukdan Township and the residents were threatened with compulsory military service to pay money.
“Every single household in Myaingtharyar Ward 3 had to send a representative to the meeting. The main thing was the junta column commander summoned the meeting because the residents did not pay the demanded 20,000 Kyats per household for conscription. We were told that every household in the ward must pay and were threatened to take our houses and move away if we don’t pay. They collected money for conscription. They threatened us that if we don’t pay, all men or women between 18 and 65 years old will be drafted and sent to the deployed area,” said a resident who attended the meeting.
In addition, the junta forces reportedly told the residents that they are free to report how they were demanded to pay for conscription and that they don’t care if news agencies picked up on the news but threatened that those who were found to have made reports will not be treated well.
“They told us we can make reports anywhere if we are unsatisfied about having to pay, that they don’t care if this was reported in the news but threatened us of consequences if they found out (who reported). Both administration officer Soe Min Aung and junta forces made the threats, that the houses of the people who don’t pay will be sealed. We were repeatedly told to take our homes and move out of the ward if we don’t pay,” added the resident who attended the meeting.
There have been multiple cases of abduction, extortion, scams and corruption related to the military conscription in Yangon Division but the junta council did not take any action when those crimes were reported.
