Myanmar’s besieged junta has adopted a controversial new strategy for fighting the country’s oppressive regime, namely enlisting Rohingya Muslims under the aegis of a new People’s Military Service Law, amid a decrease in authority and growing regional losses.
The legislation, which was passed on February 10, has elicited widespread unrest among ready citizens, leading some to consider emigrating or affiliating with military anti-junta groups or ethnic armies.
The junta’s new defeats against the Arakan Army in Rakhine state, including the loss of substantial territories including Pauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk- U, Kyauktaw, Myay Pon, and Taung Pyo townships, as well as Paletwa Township in Chin state, are driving the regime’s determined bid to recruit fresh fighters – even among those the military has previously abused and oppressed.
The coup has made it known that if a Rohingya man enlists in the defense, they will each receive a sack of grain, a membership identification card, and a 150, 000 kyats ( US$ 41 ) monthly income.
The military has issued a directive under the People’s Military Service Law to hire new soldiers directly from the Rohingya internally displaced persons ( IDP ) camps in Sittwe, the Rakhine state capital, in a particularly contentious action.
The purchase directs station management committees to choose members from each camp to advance defense businesses and divisions against the rebel Arakan Army, which just ended a peace with the military and has declared its intention to annex Rakhine state in its entirety.
The regime’s conscription drive is being decried by the Rohingya community as a reproachful attempt to use Rohingya recruits as people shields, according to many. The government’s cynicism is obvious in illumination of the government’s 2017 “area certification operation” that drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya into Bangladesh and sparked worldwide outcries of genocide.  ,
The new law requires the enlistment of men and women between the ages of 18 and 45 for a two-year time, which can be extended to five years in the event of national situations, which the country is currently facing.
The Ministry of Defense, however, is empowered to issue laws, techniques, presentations, orders, notifications and instructions necessary for the government’s application. Conscription is a violation that carries heavy fines and imprisonment sentences of three to five years.
As a result of the recent brutal campaign against the group, the junta is extending a pseudo-oil branch to Rohingya who are confined to displacement camps in Rakhine state. In order to motivate them to enlist and fight ethnic Rakhine Arakan Army rebels, this narrative revolves around providing them with freedom of movement.
The decision is yet another indication of the regime’s growing desperation given the junta’s diminishing authority and the inherent complexity of engaging the Rohingya in an already contentious situation in Rakhine state.
The junta has lost a number of important territories in recent months to a number of armed rebel groups that are attempting to overthrow its coup and rule. Images of rebels seizing military installations, mass surrenders of ill-fit soldiers, and even the downing of a military aircraft have been abundant on social media.
After losing at Laukkai, in northern Shan state, where nearly 2, 400 soldiers reportedly surrendered, military commanders are seen raising a glass in apparent concession in one compelling image.
According to reports, the junta is currently engaged in armed conflict in about two-thirds of Myanmar, with the majority of the country’s western regions close to the Indian border and key regions along its northern border with China. Elsewhere, where anti- coup movements have faced slower progress, fierce battles persist.
Criticism of the junta’s leadership, particularly directed towards coup- maker Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, has intensified, even among pro- military factions.
Recent protests, including one led by ultranationalist monk Pauk Sayardaw, have gone as far as to call for Min Aung Hlaing’s resignation. This discontent among the military’s traditional supporters underscores society’s broad dissatisfaction with the junta’s rule and wars.
With the post-coup emergence of various new groups aligned against the junta, not least new and increasingly well-armed People’s Defense Forces ( PDFs ), Myanmar’s long-running civil war has undergone significant changes.
The pro-democracy resistance has been strengthened by the successful coordinated operations by experienced ethnic armed groups like the Brotherhood Alliance as the junta loses control in various areas.
Despite mounting battlefield losses and internal discontent, a leadership change at the junta’s top is still far from certain. While there are reports of growing frustration among the top brass, the military’s deeply entrenched top- down culture means Min Aung Hlaing’s ouster is still unlikely.
Nor is it clear whether alternative leaders would stop the conflict or address root causes of the conflict.
Soldiers are demoralized and exhausted as a result of the junta’s brutal campaigns throughout the nation, including in ethnically majority Bamar areas that have historically been unaffected by armed conflict.
As the military’s capacity to sustain its counterinsurgency operations declines as disillusionment with the junta increases, that’s influencing the flagging new recruitment. Thus, the junta’s attempt to recruit Rohingya Muslims can only be seen as a sign of its disdain.
However, its arbitrary conscription drive, which includes those of the Rohingya, runs the risk of worsening already dangerously high tensions and may result in even greater instability as more people choose to join the resistance as opposed to fight for a widely despised and rudderless regime.