The junta is racing to impose conscription and has already prepared venues for military training for the first group of 5,000 conscripts who will be selected after the Myanmar New Year holidays next month, a meeting of the junta committee overseeing conscription was told on Monday.
The speed with which conscription is proceeding indicates how severe the shortage of personnel in the military is as it faces rising attacks from resistance groups and ethnic armed organizations on multiple fronts. Conscription was announced less than a month ago.
The national-level committee overseeing conscription is ready to provide military training to the first batch of 5,000 trainees who will be conscripted after the Thingyan holidays in April, its chairman, defense minister Tin Aung San, told a meeting of the committee on Monday.
The regime was swift to form conscription bodies at the local level after junta boss Min Aung Hlaing activated the conscription law on Feb. 10.
It has also formed a working committee to draft standard operating procedures (SOPs) and by-laws for conscription. The working committee, led by the judge advocate-general of the Myanmar military, has reportedly produced the third draft of conscription rules and adopted the SOPs in collaboration with the junta’s Ministry of Legal Affairs.
At Monday’s meeting, Maung Maung Aye, vice-chairman of the national-level conscription committee, called for timely completion of relevant tasks. He is the chief of general staff – for the army, navy and air force – and No. 3 in the military.
The regime has carried out a series of conscription propaganda campaigns in nearly 40 towns across Myanmar – complete with posters, fliers, pep talks and threats – aimed at creating public acceptance for conscription. It has also been sending text messages to subscribers of the country’s four mobile networks as part of the campaign.
These activities indicate that mandatory military service is taking shape swiftly.
Since the introduction of mandatory military service, massive numbers of young people have been attempting to leave Myanmar for foreign countries, including neighboring Thailand, to avoid conscription.
All men aged 18-35 and women aged 18-27 are legally obligated to serve in the military under the newly enforced conscription law. The age range rises to between 18 and 45 for males with specialist expertise, such as doctors and engineers, and to 18 to 35 for females with specialist expertise.
More than 13 million people, six million men and seven million women, are eligible to serve, according to the junta.
The duration of military service is up to two years, but those who are called up as technicians are required to serve up to three years. Military service can also be extended to five years during a state of emergency, such as the current one.
Evading conscription is punishable by three to five years in prison. Pretending to be sick or disabled to evade conscription is punishable by five years in prison.
The law dates back to 1959 when the country’s first dictator, General Ne Win, introduced it as the head of an interim government before staging the first coup in 1962. In 2010, then-dictator Than Shwe amended the law. It was, however, never enforced before Min Aung Hlaing activated it last month.
The civilian National Unity Government has warned that legal action will be taken against those who cooperate with the regime’s imposition of conscription.
