In an effort to quell opposition to its takeover in 2021, the military in Myanmar is putting into effect a law that permits it to call all men between the ages of 18 and 35 and all women between the ages of 18 and 27 to serve for a minimum of two years, the junta announced on Saturday.
Since the military took over in February of that year, ending a ten-year experiment with democracy and sparking widespread protests and a crackdown on dissent, the Southeast Asian nation has been in chaos.
After three years, the junta still finds it difficult to put an end to the widespread violent opposition to its authority. Recently, an alliance of armed ethnic minority groups dealt the junta a series of devastating defeats.
The information team of the junta claimed in a statement that it has “issued the notification of the effectiveness of People’s Military Service Law starting from February 10th, 2024.”
Although a previous junta drafted the bill in 2010, it was never implemented.
The junta’s defense ministry would “release necessary bylaws, procedures, announcements orders, notifications and instructions,” according to a statement released on Saturday. It did not provide any more information.
It did not specify how the called-up individuals were supposed to serve.
The junta has previously declared that it is fighting rivals around the nation while preparing to arm pro-military militias.
According to junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun, “a national military service system involving all people is essential because of the situation happening in our country,” as stated in an audio message made available by the information team.
The previous law defined “skilled” as being between the ages of 18 and 45 for men and 18 and 35 for women, respectively, albeit it was not clear what exactly qualified as such.
That law also stipulated that in the event of a state of emergency, the periods of service could be extended for an additional five years, and anyone who disregarded a summons to serve could spend the equivalent amount of time in jail.
Following its takeover of the country in 2021, the Myanmar junta declared a period of emergency, which the army has now extended for an additional six months.
Crackdown
Tens of thousands of young people have joined the pro-democracy “People’s Defence Forces” since the coup, and they are fighting the junta throughout large portions of the nation.
An coalition of fighters from ethnic minorities staged a surprise onslaught in northern Shan state towards the end of October, seizing control of vital trade routes to China and conquering land.
A number of military sources contacted by AFP, all of whom sought anonymity, claimed that low- and mid-level officers’ morale had been negatively impacted by the military’s inability to mount a counterattack and the success of the northern operation.
A local monitoring group claims that the military’s crackdown on dissent has resulted in over 4,500 deaths and over 26,000 arrests.