NAYPYITAW, 13 August 2021, (TON): Locals told media that the junta has forced residents of at least three wards in Bago to do labour as “guards” of locations specified by the military or face fines.

Locals in the town’s Alin Yaung, Pon Nar Su and Nan Daw Yar wards said each household had been ordered by the military authorities to send a person to perform “guard duty” monthly for up to 12 hours with no pay.

A 24-year-old man in Alin Yaung said that ward residents are assigned to guard posts in a garage at a school occupied by soldiers, or at a Buddhist monastery.

The shifts are from 7am until 7pm or from 8pm until 5am in Alin Yaung ward.

He said “no one knows why we have been sent on guard duty.”

The practice has been in place since mid-May, supervised by the 100-household administrator under the military coup council, the resident said. He noted that the previous administrator resigned shortly after the compulsory guard duties were put into effect.

The Alin Yaung resident explained “if a household did not want to carry out the enforced duties, they had to pay 5,000 kyat (US$3). Then the 100-household administrator had to find a substitute guard.”

Locals have said that both income and even basic cash have been severely limited in the months since the coup, making the payment a hardship for many households.