MYANMAR- General Maung Maung Aye, who recently became the Minister of Defense, has also taken over from General Tin Aung San as the new chairman of the central body for military conscription. According to a military source, forced military recruitment (under conscription law) would be handled more strictly.
On December 18, the terrorist coup leader Min Aung Hlaing reappointed the former Minister of Defense General Tin Aung San to the Prime Minister’s Office, and General Maung Maung Aye was appointed as the new Minister of Defense.
General Maung Maung Aye, who has become the chairman and in charge of the 18-member military recruitment central body, is more strict than General Tin Aung San.
He has been ordering to avoid taking money and substituting people in summoning matters and to recruit soldiers to meet the target by using all possible methods, including arrests for porters.
“General Maung Maung Aye was said to be removed because of his poor handling of operations and had to sit in the reserve force as his age is over 60. He was like a dethroned king as he was demoted from number 3 in the highest Military Rank (Chief of General Staff) to the position of Minister of Civil Defense. He has already taken over as the new chairman of the Central Military Recruitment Board. It can be said that he is handling the issue of military service harshly because of his tough attitude,” said a military source.
An army source warned that the situation of (arbitrary) arrest for porters and illegal detaining of youths in order to meet the current number of recruits nationwide could be worse than before.
General Maung Maung Aye graduated from the Military Academy on the 25th batch and served as the commander of Nay Pyi Taw Division in the army, Chief Military Training Officer, and Chief of General Staff (Army, Navy, and Air). General Mya Tun Oo, the current member of the Military Council, was his same batch colleague.
