Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA)

June 18, 2003

Recruit the civilians in village community to attend short-term basic military training

With the plan to break the potential demonstrations, while the Burmese Army (BA) is providing military training to the USDA, SPDC members in the towns, now the local SPDC authorities in Mon State also register for the new recruits even in villages for further training.

Members of Township PDC authorities in Mon State, went to many villages in their township and called the meetings and registered the villagers for the recruits to attend in the military training. They registered only men in age from 18 to 40 years old in the village and put the name of all men in these age ranges.

When IMNA interviewed a villager about this registration, one man from Yaung-daung village, Mudon Township in Mon State said:

“The authorities did not explain us (the villagers) why we will have to attend in short day training. They said we cannot refuse. They did not say when the training will start. They registered (the names of the men) in the meeting.”

The authorities about 1000 men from his village, Yaung-daung alone, said by the man.

The men from that said, they have no desire to attend the training, and if they were forced they would escape from their native villages.

Similarly, the civilians in many Townships in Tenasserim Division, in the south of Mon State, are forced to attend the short-term military training. If they failed to attend, they have to pay 10000-20000 Kyat to the authorities.

Training has been conducted in most towns. Recruits in Moulmein, the capital of Mon State, run around the city during the training days and now the authorities are collecting the names of new recruits in villages.