An interview with Nai Nagar, Spokesperson of Mon State Revolution Force (MSRF) about the situation of young people joining the MSRF due to the People’s Military Service Law, plan to accept youths and difficulties.
Following the enforcement of the People’s Military Service Law by the military council, the revolutionary forces have invited young people to join the revolutionary forces based in Mon State. Among them is the MSRF.
The Than Lwin Times interviewed Nai Nagar, Spokesperson of the MSRF about the situation of young people joining the MSRF nearly one month after the enforcement of the People’s Military Service Law, plan to accept youths, current difficulties and challenges.
Q: First of all, I would like to know the situations of young people who have contacted the MSRF to join it due to the military service law? How many soldiers has the MSRF accepted so far?
A: Due to the mandatory military service law, many young people not only from Mon State but also from other regions have contacted us to join the MSRF. In the first week, around 500 people contacted us. We are trying to reply to their questions as much as we can. Sometimes we can’t reply to their questions in time as we have had no sufficient manpower. But now, only a few people contact us. Because there is no immediate implementation of the law, and there are various reasons, some young people have joined armed forces near them. Therefore, we would like to say that among those who contacted us, only a small percentage have been accepted due to the situation.
Q: what kind of people and from which region mostly contact the MSRF?
A: The young people who contact our MSRF are from different regions. Some are from Ayeyarwady Region, Bago Region and Yangon Region. In particular, Novem Htoo made an online campaign for us that we are accepting young people. So young people from all regions contacted us. Most of them are from Yangon Region and Mon State. Most Mon youths who are working in Thailand as migrant workers have also contacted us.
Q: With such an increase in the number of troops, what are the difficulties the MSRF are facing in accommodation, training and arming etc.?
A: Due to the compulsory conscription law, youths have joined the MSRF in droves. So, the MSRF is facing all kinds of difficulties like other revolutionary forces. There is no problem for the accommodation as the Mon State Federal Council which is the MSRF’s mother organization, has provided fully support for it. In the days to come, we will train new comrades. We also have a plan to train new comers.
Regarding the arming, the people are fully satisfied with our work. We will soon arming our members as we have received more support especially, from Myanmar expats than before. We hope we will fully arm our comrades. Arms are very expensive. With the increase in the number of new comrades, we would like to say that the purchase of weapons and access to weapons is a very challenging issue.
Q: Finally, what message do you want to convey to the people about the current revolution?
A: What I want to say here is that as the strength of our revolutionary forces increases, the momentum of the revolution and the fighting will gradually increase. I would like to say that the people will have to face hardships more than before as a result of the war. However, in order to eradicate this military dictatorship, the entire people need to help the revolutionary forces. As a result, our future generations will not continue to suffer the consequences of war. They need to understand it. We would like to request the public to support the armed forces which are really fighting against the junta on the ground.
It has been three years since the MSRF started fighting together with other revolutionary forces across Mon State shortly after the Spring Revolution began. With the people who are satisfied with our actions, we would like to request the public to provide more support. We would like to call on the public to avoid travelling, stay away from the army positions, give accurate information about the army’s movements such as the exact number of vehicles and numbers as much as they can. Or else, the people can report anonymously using fake accounts on social media. I would like to urge the public to help us when the soldiers of the revolutionary organizations are injured. Thank you.
Sent by Than Lwin Times.