MYANMAR Junta Orders All Security Personnel to Frontline as Losses Mount in Hard-Hit Regional Commands

Posted by Asia Views | Jun 3, 2024 | 0 |

Irrawaddy-May 31

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has ordered all military personnel and police in eight regional commands into full-time military service on the front line as territory and troop losses mount. The 1959 Defense Services Act defines “full-time military service” as deployment to a military unit engaged in fighting or a territory partially or completely seized by the enemy. Soldiers who go absent without leave (AWOL) during full-time military service are penalized with 20 years in prison or death. Personnel not in full-time military service are punished with just three to five years imprisonment for the same offense. Min Aung Hlaing’s order covers eight of the country’s 14 regional commands: Northern, Northeastern, Eastern, Southeastern, Western, Northwestern, Central, and Southern Command. Soldiers, police and border guards in areas overseen by these eight commands are now in full-time military service. Swe Taw, a Myanmar military defector, said the junta boss issued the order because 2024 has become the critical year for his regime’s survival amid nationwide armed resistance. The order covers junta soldiers, police and border guards in Kachin State, northern, eastern and southern Shan State, central Myanmar, and Rakhine, Chin, Kayah (Karenni), Mon and Karen states where the regime is locked in fierce battles with ethnic rebel armies and allied resistance forces. The regime has lost control of dozens of towns in Shan and Rakhine states since resistance groups launched a coordinated offensive late last year. Former captain Zin Yaw, another defector, said the order signals that the regime is at war or at risk of imminent attack in the eight commands. The order covers anyone working for a military unit either in barracks or on maneuvers, anyone serving in a military unit, anyone who accompanies those serving, and anyone who accompanies a military unit. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-orders-all-security-personnel-to-frontline-as-losses-mount-in-hard-hit-regional-commands.html

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EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD

Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.

“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”

MYANMAR Junta Orders All Security Personnel to Frontline as Losses Mount in Hard-Hit Regional Commands

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