The Irrawaddy

 

Reports from Myanmar suggest the military regime is attempting to soften the blow of forced conscription by promising survivors jobs in the private sector. State media have promoted the scheme as headline news, with Defence Minister Maung Maung Aye appointed to oversee placements.

 

The pledge comes after the revival of the long‑dormant Conscription Law in 2024, following the junta’s heavy battlefield losses during Operation 1027. Despite earlier assurances that the law would only be enforced under “normal circumstances”, it was imposed amid mounting defeats against ethnic armed groups and resistance forces.

 

In practice, conscripts have been dispatched directly to the frontlines, often into infantry units facing fierce clashes. While the sons of generals and well‑connected officials have been spared frontline duty and given desk jobs, most recruits — whether volunteers or those drafted under duress — have been treated as expendable.

 

Accounts from training bases describe conscripts kept under guard even while sleeping to prevent desertion. A recent video showed five young men shackled after refusing to attend training in Mon State. Others report being forced to march through minefields, denied medical care when wounded, or burdened with heavy ammunition while receiving fewer rations.

 

Captured soldiers have told the opposition National Unity Government that some conscripts were drugged before being pushed into enemy fire. At notorious camps such as Nat Yay Kan in Magwe Region, narcotics and alcohol are reportedly tolerated by commanders to stave off collapsing morale.

 

The regime is currently deploying large numbers of conscripts in offensives along the Myanmar‑Thai border, particularly in Karen State. Casualties are mounting daily, with only a privileged few likely to survive their two‑year terms and return home.

 

Against this backdrop, the junta’s promise of post‑service employment appears little more than propaganda. For most conscripts, the prospect of “job placement” is dismissed as a cruel joke — a hollow attempt to disguise the regime’s sacrifice of young lives in a failing war.

 

-2025-11-17

Despicable behaviour by the twisted minded Junta!