The General Administration Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an order stating that ward administration teams in Yangon will be held responsible if they cannot locate young people eligible for military service according to census data. This information was confirmed by a source from the General Administration Department in Mayangone Township. In early May, marking one year since the implementation of military recruitment, the military council completely overhauled the system of listing eligible youth for military service based on census data, instructing township and ward administration teams to systematically call up young people according to census information.
In some wards of Mayangone Township, there are over 6,000 young people eligible for military service, and suitable candidates from this pool must be reported as soon as possible. If young people listed in the census are not present in their wards, have left the country, or relocated to other regions, the respective ward administration teams will be held accountable. The ward administration teams must ensure there is no discrepancy between the list of recruits and their actual availability.
While previous recruitment methods included lottery systems and monetary arrangements, township and ward administration teams can now manage recruitment through their preferred methods, with the primary focus being on meeting monthly quotas for new recruits. Throughout Yangon Division, there has been an increase in excessive monetary collections under the pretext of the Military Service Law, as well as forceful daytime arrests of young people at bus terminals and intersections for military service. Local residents report that despite complaints about these illegal monetary collections, no action has been taken against these practices. The military council’s new directive emphasizes that ward administrators must deliver the required number of recruits monthly, regardless of the methods used, whether through lottery, direct summons, or other means of recruitment.
