Visa applicants swamp Thai embassy ahead of Myanmar conscription
The Thailand embassy in Yangon, Myanmar has been swamped with young men and women seeking visas to get out of the country since the ruling junta announced on Saturday it will enforce a compulsory military service law to recruit soldiers.
On Friday, an Agence France-Presse journalist saw a queue of between 1,000 and 2,000 people snaking through the streets near the mission in downtown Yangon — compared with less than 100 before Saturday’s announcement.
The embassy said it is issuing 400 numbered tickets a day in order to manage the queue.
Student Aung Phyo, 20, said he arrived at the embassy at 8 p.m. on Thursday and slept in his car before starting to queue around midnight.
“We had to wait for three hours and police opened the security gate around 3 a.m. and we had to run to the front of the embassy to try to get places for a token,” he told AFP, using a pseudonym because of fears for his safety.
“After we got a token, people who didn’t get one were still queuing in front of the embassy hoping they might give out extras.”
The military said it will call up all men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 to serve for at least two years, as it struggles to quell opposition to its 2021 coup that ousted the civilian government of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
The junta has said it is taking measures to arm pro-military militias as it battles opponents across the country — both anti-coup “People’s Defense Forces” and more long-standing armed groups belonging to ethnic minorities.
No details have been given about how those called up would be expected to serve but many young people are apparently not keen to wait and find out.
Enforcement of the People’s Military Service Law raises fear among Myanmar’s young men and women.