AFTER the Myanmar junta recently announced that it is immediately imposing military service, young men and women quickly started fleeing to Thailand by walking through the forest with a bigger wave of tens and thousands of them expected to flood across the border soon, Naewna newspaper said this evening (Feb. 19).
The announced enforcement of a decade-old conscription law allowing the call up all men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve for at least two years is expected to get into full swing after Songkran with the target of drafting 50,000 people a year or an average of not less than 5,000 a month.
A security source on the Thai-Myanmar border said in Tak province alone police and soldiers are able to arrest hundreds of illegal immigrants everyday.
After being taken into custody they are pushed back across the border but what is worrying is that once back in their homeland they are immediately conscripted into the Myanmar military.
This has led to those fleeing military service doing their best to hide once they cross over to Thailand and as a result brokers have now raised their fee and there is rampant bribery of government officials along the border from Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai province to Ranong province.
“There are tens of thousands of people in this age group and they don’t want to become soldiers, if they wanted to become one they would have trained with various ethnic armed groups.
“They fled to Thailand because they want to make a living and not enter the battlefield.
“Actually the government should register them to join the country’s labour force as Thailand is becoming an ageing society,” a security official said.
Ms. Paewa (pseudonym), 21, from Bago region of Myanmar, who recently arrived in Thailand said she fled two days after military service was announced.
“I had to rush to pack my belongings and travel to a state near the Thai border with the help of ethnic armed forces. Travelling is difficult because one has to walk through overgrown roads and high mountains and it takes a long time.
“I was very worried, being afraid that I would get arrested and be drafted into the military,” she said.
“Even though the ethnic forces helped me, I only trusted them 50% and was not sure I would reach Thailand safely. But when I reached the border I felt relieved that I could trust this ethnic group – a big thank you to them for helping.”
Here in Thailand she is staying with relatives who have been working here for many years and is looking for a job to save money and one day return to her hometown.
Meanwhile Mr. Kanwee Suebsaeng, a Fair Party MP, said the Myanmar authorities have stopped issuing permits for new workers wanting to come to Thailand with this being consistent with the new conscription drive.
He urged the government to implement measures to support this group of Myanmar people fleeing across the border and put off deporting them for now because doing so means they would be forced to serve the military.
“Actually, there is still a lot of demand for workers in Thailand and we should find measures to support this group of people as they can help fill the labour shortage here,” he said.
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Young Myanmar men and women who recently fled to Thailand. Photo: Naewna
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