The spokesperson for the Myanmar military junta, Zaw Min Tun, as quoted by AFP (10/02), said that the duty to protect and defend the country is not only for the soldiers but also for all citizens.
On Wednesday (14/02/2024), local media quoted a military spokesman as saying the program would start in April, processing 5,000 people each month. However, there are no plans regarding recruiting women.
Analysts argue that the conscription order occurred because the junta was having difficulty recruiting new members to face its biggest challenges on the battlefield.
With this conscription policy, the fighting between junta troops and opposition groups seems increasingly endless. As quoted from Kompas.id (01/02/2024), since the coup occurred on February 1, 2021, more than 4,400 people have been killed and at least 25,000 people have been detained. Fighting between opposition forces and the military junta also triggered mass displacement. The latest UN figures, as quoted from news.un.org (22/02/2024) show that almost 2.7 million Myanmar people are internally displaced throughout the country.
This conscription policy, as stated by Tom Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, is a threat to the safety of civilians. If fighting between the military junta and opposition groups continues, the number of deaths and mass displacement will also continue to increase.
Other countries, as called for by Tom Andrews, need to take concrete, and coordinated steps to prevent the continued increase in fighting casualties among Myanmar civilians. This includes reducing the junta's access to weapons and funding. As quoted from nhk.or.jp (24/07/2023), Myanmar imports weapons and raw materials to produce weapons from several countries, such as Russia, China, Singapore, India, and Thailand, worth at least US$ 1 billion. These countries can contribute to peace in Myanmar by reducing the junta's access to weapons.
Apart from Tom Andrews' proposal, many steps have been taken to strive for peace in Myanmar. Examples are the Five-Point Consensus (5PC) adopted by ASEAN in April 2021 and pressure efforts by various Western countries. However, all of them have not shown satisfactory results.
Indonesia, as a member of ASEAN, and other countries in the world hope that peace in Myanmar can be realized sooner.