The military council has arrested Zaw Yu Tun, the leader of Pyu Saw Htee in Meiktila, Mandalay Region, after he criticized the collection of military service fees on social media. Zaw Yu Tun, who is a military supporter, an extremist Ma Ba Tha member, and a former serviceman, had been working as an informant for the military council since the 2021 military coup. After attending military training courses, he became the leader of Pyu Saw Htee in Meiktila city in 2022.
He participated in Meiktila city security operations alongside the military and was appointed as the security leader at the city’s toll gate. While on duty, he ordered vehicles to lower their windows, which led to a confrontation with Major Wai Phyo from Malun Township when he demanded the same from the Major’s Nissan AD van. Major Wai Phyo threatened to shoot and throw hand grenades during the altercation, according to local residents.
On May 13, Zaw Yu Tun posted on his social media page that the collection of military service substitution fees in Meiktila Township was illegal. He wrote that people were feeling insecure because young people were being arbitrarily arrested on their way to and from work for military substitution. He reported that people were afraid to go out at night for fear of being forced into porter service, and that the entire city of Meiktila was quiet at night. He revealed that some young people had paid 7 million kyats to Military Unit 113 for military service substitution, and that villages were paying millions of kyats monthly as military service fees. He called for action against officials collecting these military service fees.
Zaw Yu Tun is a retired Air Force Staff Sergeant and a supporter of the military dictatorship. He had personally arrested about 20 pro-democracy political activists. The military council announced that they arrested him on May 15, claiming he was inciting and spreading propaganda on social media with the intention of disrupting state stability and peace. Despite his previous loyalty to the military council and his role in suppressing opposition, his criticism of the military service fee collection led to his arrest, highlighting the military council’s intolerance of any criticism, even from their supporters.
