Mr. Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, visited Mae Sot, a Turk district bordering Myanmar, on February 8th and 9th to provide humanitarian aid to Myanmar's war-torn refugees across the border.
After the trip, Thai government spokesman Mr. Chai Wacharonke said that the aid program will be implemented within a month, and humanitarian aid centers will be opened in Mae Sot and Karen states on the border with Thailand, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper on February 10.
He said that humanitarian aid items will be delivered to Burmese war refugees from the No. 2 Customs Gate in Mae Sot, Turk District.
The Thai government has said that it intends to send food and medicine to 20,000 people displaced by the fighting.
This program was approved by the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' meeting held in Laos at the end of last month, to be jointly implemented by the Red Cross Societies of Thailand and Myanmar.
If the Thai government is to effectively provide humanitarian aid to Myanmar refugees, it needs to work with organizations along the border, said U Ne Boon Lat, spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office of the National Unity Government NUG.
"If we work with this terrorist group or affiliated organizations of the terrorist group and go through them, we have had a lot of experience in the past. These did not directly reach the people who really need them, but they ended up in the hands of this terrorist group. There have been many instances where the money that was meant to save the people went from the money that was meant to save the people to the money that killed the people. Therefore, if we want to directly reach the people in need, we should only do this by cooperating with the ethnic revolutionary forces that dominate the area. I would like to make the same comment.''
After the military coup, those who had to flee because of the danger of the military council. Most of the war refugees who fled their homes due to continuous fighting throughout the country are reaching the borders of Thailand.
As the Thai government says it will cooperate with the Burmese Red Cross, which is under the military council, humanitarian aid will not be able to reach the refugees, civil groups say.
Dr. San Aung, director of the Mae Sot-based New Myanmar Foundation, pointed out that the Thai government should reconsider this plan.
"We are refugees, not because of the war. We are doing the common good, doing human rights, doing democracy, doing the good of the country, doing the good of the country, and if they run away to be arrested, the number one thing they need is protection, the certificates that protect them, the number two is the shelter, the place to stay, the number three is the basic food. The number four is the essential service. What I see is the health care. If we have to open a camp, then we will keep it in the city, there is no problem, but if we open the camp and there are no health facilities, it is free. The doctors only come twice a week. I don't have much energy to open a camp like that. It's not good.''
Dr. San Aung also said that the refugees have become migrant workers in order to make a living.
Along the Mae Sot-Myawati border, it borders Karen State the most, and most of the war refugees are Karen ethnics. Dr. San Aung said that the Karen civil society organizations are also working on the issues of hundreds of thousands of victims on the ground, so we should work with these organizations.
When asked by RFA about the Thai government's current plan, KNU's spokesperson, Padosaw Ke Kle Sae, replied that the KNU leaders are discussing and negotiating.
Civil groups based in Mae Sot say that there are up to 500,000 Burmese refugees in Turk District, Thailand.
In the KNU-controlled area, according to the statistics up to the end of 2023, the KNU announced that there have been more than 750,000 people who have fled their homes due to increased military attacks by the Military Council Army in three years.
Analysts criticized the Military Council's military service law
The coup military council announced on the night of February 10 that it will start enforcing the militia law, which requires all citizens to serve in the military.
General Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the Coup Military Council, announced that this law, which was signed and promulgated by the leader of the NAF military junta, General Than Shwe, will come into force on February 10, 2024.
According to Chin National Army (CNA) spokesman Salai Chetni, the Military Council, which is facing a nationwide military crisis, has reactivated the conscription law after 14 years because of a dwindling troop strength.
"During this spring revolution, we and the military council fought against us, and the military council's side lost a lot of strength. Therefore, they recruited civilians to serve in the military. In the end, they used their married women, such as Pyu Saw Hội, in the battle.
The law stipulates that all citizens must serve in the military, for men between the ages of 18 and 35, and for women between the ages of 18 and 27.
If it's going to be an expert with a profession, the age of men is set from 18 to 45 years, and the age of women is set from 18 to 35 years.
Experts are doctors, engineering It is described as a person with industrial education or other profession.
There are also those who think that forcing people to serve in the military to kill each other without foreign enemies is making the people a human wall and making it difficult for the poor people.
"Why do you do that because there is a war with a country? These are the kinds of laws that are used when a country is at war with a country. We have to use something like this. When we do that, we automatically lack food, education, security, and health, and we don't have to serve in the military in a country that is torn apart and starving. What will the rest of the family eat? U Gyi Myint said.
U Khun Myint Tun, chairman of the Pau National Federal Council PNFC, also pointed out that the military council is fighting against the people.
"The law is that when the military council loses big in all areas of military politics, it takes the people as hostages, and uses our entire ethnic population as a human wall. This is the law that does this, and the whole country needs to condemn and oppose this act of forcing the people to fight among themselves."
The military council is not a legitimate government and does not have the power to enact laws, so it is illegal to make such a declaration, he said.
According to this law, they must serve in the army for up to two years, and those summoned by the military council as industrial craftsmen must serve up to three years, and in the event of a national emergency, they must serve up to five years.
The Central Committee for Militia Service Summons is organized by state and district. It will be organized up to the district and township level and will be called up for military service from that group.
Captain Aung Myo Thant, who is a member of the Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), believes that this law has a great impact on the grassroots people.
"Since the conscription law has been enacted, all those who meet the specified age listed in the census will be called with summons from the relevant military headquarters and regions. If they are called and come and do not perform their duties, they must give a good reason. If they cannot provide such, I see that they are cheating the people because they want to do such things either through money or other punishments."
Because the military council is defeated in the whole country and has no more forces, the prisoners, National Unity Government (NUG) Defense Ministry Spokesperson U Maung Maung Swe, Deputy Secretary, said that they have used ex-military personnel and are now forcing people to serve in the military.
"No one of the people will be willing to serve in the military for them unanimously. The people are just people who oppose them randomly. If only those people are allowed to serve in the military under the People's Conscription Law, this will be a sword for them, and the military dictator will be overthrown as soon as possible."
Chin National Army (CNA) spokesperson Salai Chetni said that the implementation of this law is an attempt to legally arm supporters of the army and is a form of forced recruitment.
"His side can't just shout that they support him, and then turn around and arm his supporters, asking them to come and take up arms themselves." It's a kind of force gathering by turning to one side by force. But we have to do our best to prevent people who don't support the army from joining."
U Than Soe Naing, a political analyst, concluded that even if they try to increase the strength of the army with this law, they will not be able to prevent the fall of the military council.
"We have made it legal for the entire people to be able to draw whoever they want. We can't fight a war with such draws. Because of this, the number of his troops will not decrease, nor will his escape decrease. I see that this has been published so that people in the whole country can be called. I see that such actions cannot prevent the fall of the military council, and I see that it will be faster, so if you dare to do it, I would like to comment."
General Zaw Min Tun, who is authorized to speak for the Military Council, said on February 10th in the media that they control that it is necessary to implement the national military service system for all citizens due to the current situation of the country.
In this law, civil servants, Those who are studying People who are taking care of their elderly parents. Those who quit drugs He said that those who are undergoing treatment and those who are in prison can be temporarily postponed to work.
parishioners married women People with disabilities It is stated that those who are exempted from the militia conscription group do not have to serve.
The law stipulates that if a person who is summoned to military service refuses to do his duty and refuses to do so, he will be sentenced to five years in prison.
After the news media controlled by the military council announced that this law would be implemented, it became a concern among the people and it was widely written among social media users that while those who can afford to pay bribes to avoid military service, it could be dangerous for those who do not have enough money.
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