Village chief couple forcibly collects money from households unable to pay 50,000 kyats for conscription fee in Thantlang

In Thantlang Township, Yangon Region, it has been learned from local residents that a village chief couple is collecting 50,000 kyats per household, citing the Conscription Law enforced by the interim government army, and forcibly seizing the remaining amounts as if they were debts from households unable to pay. The village chief, Myo Aung, and his wife are targeting households within the Bo Gyi area of Thantlang Township that have individuals eligible for conscription, pressuring them to pay 50,000 kyats per household. For families unable to pay immediately due to the current economic hardship, they record the outstanding amounts and demand them daily as if they were loans. Furthermore, it is reported that they are forcibly collecting up to 15,000 kyats per month from households whose members are not yet of conscription age, claiming it is a monthly fee for conscription exemption. "We are daily wage earners, so we cannot pay 50,000 kyats all at once. But they demand it no matter what. Even if we don't have the full 50,000, we pay 30,000 first, and they come to our homes on motorcycles to collect the remaining 20,000 as if it were a debt. If we don't have it, they write it down on a list and come to collect the remaining money like a debt. It's very distressing," said a mother from Aung Chan Thar ward, who requested anonymity for security reasons. Residents in the lower-income bracket of the ward are suffering double hardship, fearing their children will be arrested for conscription, and on the other hand, being threatened that they will be placed on the priority list for conscription if they cannot pay the unjustly demanded sums. Since the interim government army began enforcing the Conscription Law, some township and ward administrators across the country have been extorting money from the public in various ways and enriching themselves under the guise of conscription exemption.