Myanmar’s regime is compiling lists of government employees in southern Shan State to form so-called people’s militias. The order from Shan State’s security and border affairs minister Colonel Sein Win called for lists, excluding police officers, in Taunggyi and Kalaw districts and Pa-O and Danu self-administered zones by August 17. The order says civil servants, including health and educational staff, will be used as auxiliary forces under the military’s Eastern Command with tasks allocated according to the size of the militia battalion. A junta source, who asked not to be named, said: “The military has suffered heavy casualties in southern Shan State and Kayah State. It has been significantly depleted so it is planning to include government employees in militias.” A military defector said: “The military has been hit by casualties and it can hardly find recruits. But I don’t think arming civil servants will work. I guess it can only be formed on paper and can be implemented only when employees are willing.”
Since the 2021 coup, Myanmar’s military has been hit hard by desertions and heavy casualties in daily clashes with resistance forces across the country. The regime has conscripted thieves and other minor criminals but many allegedly fled during training. Read more at:
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.”
