Ma Su Thit | ယခုဆောင်းပါးကို မြန်မာဘာသာဖြင့် ဖတ်ရှုရန် ဤနေရာတွင် နှိပ်ပါ

Cite as: 
Ma Su Thit. (2025). Family and Soldiers’ Decisions to Join the Civil Disobedience Movement. Independent Journal of Burmese Scholarship, 5. https://ijbs.online/?page_id=5296

Abstract

This article outlines why it is difficult to leave the military and join the Civil Disobedience Movement. It also explains the role of family in soldiers finally deciding to leave. This article is based on my own experiences as the wife of a soldier who helped him to leave the military as well as my work in support organizations, where I have come into contact with many family members of soldiers since 2021.

Introduction

In this post-coup environment, it is not easy for anyone to decide to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and stand with the people, let alone to actually do it—especially if you are a soldier in the Myanmar military. To be able to do such a thing, you must be able to differentiate between right and wrong, as well as be aware of what is really happening in the world outside of your barracks. But soldiers in such positions and with said abilities still face many difficulties when leaving the military and siding with the people. This article outlines some of these challenges and explains the important role that family members have in enabling their military family members’ departures from the army. It also lists a few of the stories and difficult situations of soldiers who have left the military since the 2021 coup, and of their families.

Laws and Punishments

In Myanmar, soldiers must abide not only by the normal laws for civilians, but also by the particular laws, rules, and policies unique to those in military service. If any one of these laws is violated, the individual is punished with the set punishment for that particular law. Going away without leave (AWOL) or defecting is a transgression considered worthy of arrest, or worse. If a soldier goes AWOL, the military goes after that person, with officials sending the offending soldier’s personal details to any relevant senior departments, such as Regional Commands or Divisions. If they have not returned 21 days after this, they are declared to be a deserter (more on this a bit later).

Sometimes other soldiers from the battalion the departing soldier fled from are tasked to go looking for them, and sometimes the military police receives their identifying information and seeks them out for arrest. If caught, punishment can be quite severe, depending on the length of the “escape” period. Soldiers arrested after a short period of time need to serve about a year in military prison, after which they would then have to serve as a soldier again. Soldiers with higher ranks have them stripped back down to private. Tribunal inquiries are held for soldiers who go AWOL for a long time; said individuals must serve multiple-year sentences in a civilian prison and can no longer serve as soldiers once released.

There are even more severe punishments. If a soldier is assigned to serve at a post and deserts it, they face a 20-year or life sentence in prison, or even the death penalty. An example where this might be applicable would be if a soldier leaves a frontline post. Furthermore, after the 2021 coup, military leaders also seem to be permitting soldiers to shoot absconding individuals on sight.

My husband joined the CDM from an active conflict area. When he asked one of his senior colleagues about the possibility of leaving, his colleague showed him a copy of the abovementioned laws and told my husband that he would be sentenced to 20 years in prison if he tried to leave. This is how superior officers effectively restrain their subordinates. When soldiers consider joining the CDM, they must consider all these factors.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the military does not recognize the CDM and does not regard soldiers who join it as “CDM participants.” To the army, they are just AWOL soldiers, deserters, or fugitives. As mentioned, soldiers who leave the military used to be declared as deserters after a period of 21 days. The deserter’s personal information, including photographs, would be sent to regional commands, divisions, and other military offices, which distribute the information to battalions and military police offices throughout the country, in an attempt to recapture the deserter as soon as possible. But now in these current circumstances, where many soldiers are leaving the military to join the CDM, this 21-day grace period has been voided and soldiers are declared deserters immediately. The reason the military no longer waits is because, previously, when a soldier went AWOL, there was incentive to delay reporting that soldier’s details up the chain of command—as officers could instead withdraw that soldier’s assigned salary and rations for their own personal benefit (“ghost soldiers”). However, today, the news media reports on most of the soldiers who join the CDM, so if officers attempt to hide the desertion, they will be found out and punished. The flip side of this is that in the current climate, unlike in the past, deserting soldiers now worry about having enough time to reach safety before being hunted down. If they are detained, they are considered traitors and suffer the heavy punishments mentioned above.

Livelihoods

Another consideration that may hold soldiers back from joining the CDM is the livelihood supporting their family. Soldiers’ families are essentially cut off from the outside world as soon as they move into a military barracks. For these family members, there is almost nothing they can do or learn to advance their own lives, as they have to dedicate their time to military duties and orders. They live their lives with the mindset that when the appropriate time comes, they must rest, work, or eat; they do what they are told and follow all given orders. Military family members living with this routine forget that they should learn other important things for their own personal advancement because they are assigned so many tasks—they no longer have any spare time. Some even believe that things unrelated to the military are not important or relevant for their lives. Soldiers themselves think this way, that they will be OK so long as they are in the military, and that they will never need to worry about food and accommodation. This narrow circle that is the military becomes their whole existence. Soldiers begin to believe that the military actually looks after their families.

Therefore, it becomes increasingly difficult for soldiers to leave the military. They stay on to ensure that life continues to go smoothly. Soldiers also start thinking about factors that they and their families must face when leaving the military to join the CDM, such as losing their job and income. Even single people are battling to survive in today’s political environment, so it is even more difficult for a person with a family.

It is very challenging to find a job and earn an income when the military that has seized control of the country regards you as a traitor and has distributed your personal information across the country so that you may be detained. As military salaries are so low, soldiers normally have very little or no savings, so it is almost impossible for them to start their own business. They are also unable to go back to their families and run a family business because very few people who join the military come from a well-off family background. Even those from a relatively comfortable household would struggle to openly operate a business when military soldiers arbitrarily detain, torture, and/or intimidate every young person they encounter.

Another variable to consider is security. Soldiers wanting to join the CDM must think and plan accordingly. It is well-known that military soldiers arrest parents and siblings if they are unable to find the son or the brother. Soldiers who want to join the CDM must also worry about their parents and relatives facing difficulties and being harassed by the military.

I had to face this exact challenge when my husband joined the CDM. The military called me in for questioning as part of their investigations. When they initially contacted me, they tried to persuade me to tell my husband to return to the military; however, when I listened closely to the things they were saying, I sort of knew that they were not the type of people who stick to their word. Whenever they called me, I would try to convince them that I was on side in various ways and that I was waiting for the time that I would see my husband.

I began to think my newly free husband and I would never be safe until we reached a place away from the military’s clutches. Therefore, my husband and I left for the liberated area of an ethnic armed organization. Not long after we arrived, soldiers went to my parents’ place and interrogated them about everything related to my husband. Luckily, because my father is a retired police officer, they did not do anything too horrible, but regardless of this, my elderly parents were obviously nervous. That incident made me understand what it is like to worry about one’s parents and fear for their security. I ended up bringing my parents and siblings to the liberated area where my husband and I currently live.

As soon as we decided to do that, we had to start thinking about all the issues and concerns that I previously mentioned. We had to sell all the jewelry that we owned for our family’s livelihood. We had to sell my parents’ house and land, as well as the car I used to drive for work. Because of our decision, we had to give up all our possessions—and so did our parents and siblings, too. My family members had to experience being destitute at all their respective different ages. I remember feeling wretched when we decided to sell our parents’ house, and of course my parents felt very sad to lose it because it represented their life savings. Even though we made the decision to prepare for and overcome all these challenges, to be honest, it has been exceedingly arduous.

The Important Role of Family

Whenever a soldier comes to recognize the unjustness of the current political environment and thinks about joining the CDM, they really need to consult with their families. It is almost impossible to join the CDM without support and engagement from family—everyone will, after all, be facing the situation together. There are many soldiers and officers who have not been able to join the CDM because their spouse or family have not agreed. Family plays an essential role in whether a soldier joins the CDM.

It is important that family have the opportunity to push the soldier towards the right path. To steer them in this direction, one must ensure that they see and understand the reality of the cruelty that the military has unleashed upon the people. Almost all soldiers within the Myanmar military have been brainwashed and indoctrinated for years, and therefore, they firmly believe that the things they do for the military are right. They are used to following and implementing exacting orders from their superiors, so family must try hard to help them see what is right and what is happening in the real world. Some soldiers join the military with noble mindsets—they just want to protect the people; therefore, when their family tells them that the military is ruthlessly killing people, they cannot reconcile this murdering military with the noble image in their minds. My husband was like this.

As the 2021 coup was unfolding, my husband was attending a training course in Pyin Oo Lwin. He was completely oblivious about what was happening on the outside because he could only use his phone for a limited amount of time and was also busy with his studies. He did not know anything, and he did not experience any fallout or consequences from the coup, he was simply deep in his training. After he completed training, he went back to the No. 21 Military Operations Headquarters in Bhamo where he was stationed. When he arrived at his base, even though there was conflict nearby in Kachin State, they did not send him to the front line but stationed him there at headquarters.

He kept working away obliviously at headquarters, but conflicts were growing and the protests in towns were intensifying. The base no longer had enough people on site, and he was tasked with various jobs in different areas. He had to serve in urban area security as well as vehicle patrols; on top of all of that, he also had to serve as the personal assistant to the Deputy Commander. That was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I was extremely worried about him having to carry out all these duties. I thought about whether he would be tasked with protest security, and if so, would he have to confront the people? I cried every night when I called him. I explained the situation to him in every way that I could, because I did not want him to torture innocent protesters like other soldiers. I showed him evidence of the military’s cruelties happening in real time on the outside. However, as I previously stated, he was a soldier who only wanted to protect the people; he thought it was inconceivable that everything I was telling him was true since he was resisting my revelations with his own opinion that the military was noble. We had many fights. He argued about what I was telling him—I was frustrated that he would not see the truth. In the end, to stop me from worrying, he promised me that if he were to face the people on any given day in this crisis, he would not kill civilians. Although I felt a bit better after he made this promise, the worry I had for him did not lessen.

On 27 March 2021, my husband experienced the thing that he feared the most. He and his team had been tasked with containing a protest in Bhamo. He tried to protect people by calling and messaging those he knew in town to warn them because he realized that the situation was not good. That very day, he decided to leave the military when he saw, with his own eyes, one of his superior officers—a G1 level Lieutenant Colonel—shooting at civilians with the intent to kill. On that day, when he saw the dead body of Ma Shwe Myint, a civilian who had been killed by that G1 officer, his decision to leave crystallized.

After that incident, he agreed to join the CDM, and we started preparing. Because my husband, based on his own experience, had realized the truth, I felt vindicated; on the other hand, I was also concerned about the difficulties that we would face. When we consulted with our families about the situation, all of them supported us without any doubts and I felt encouraged. At the same time, I also felt grateful to my family for agreeing to all of this. When I found out that my family was willing to face anything because they believed that we were doing a good thing, I really understood their importance to me.

Our general plans for joining the CDM took a while, but there was an additional challenge. Because my husband was the personal assistant to the Deputy Commander, he had to be with him day and night. During that time, the Alawbum Hill and Tower Hill battles¹ were happening, and therefore, he and the Deputy Commander were busy every day. My husband had no time to rest. Sometimes, operations carried on all night, and so, without any sleep, he had to be available to his superior who was overseeing these nocturnal battles. Time dragged on and on without a reasonable chance to escape.

Then, one day, the opportunity to leave presented itself. My husband’s superior, the Deputy Commander, was promoted and transferred to another post. This officer moved as soon as the order letter was received, and so, there was a gap of a few days where the new Deputy Commander had not yet arrived, and that window was the best chance yet for my husband to escape. Early one morning, he called me and said:

I’ve left the military. Don’t worry, I’m just calling you now because the situation has calmed down and I didn’t want you to be worried.

After hearing that, my fingers and toes become cold. No matter how much we had prepared, when the time came and he actually went through with it, I suddenly felt unable to relax, combining happiness with worry. What made me feel encouraged about the future and the way forward was the support and pride from our families about our decision.

I would like to also mention that when my husband decided to leave the military and join the CDM, it was not as difficult for him as for others as he was helped by a lot of his subordinates and civilians that he was close to. When you become a soldier out of love for your people, the benefits from all the good that you do and have done to help civilians can then work in your favor in situations such as this—as it did for my husband. Because he was a good leader, spent time with his subordinates and treated them as equals, they helped him achieve whatever he needed. He always says that, normally when other people join the CDM, all they can take is their own body and the clothes on their back; however, when he joined the CDM, he was able to take all three of his suitcases, and even his shoes.

Now, my husband is taking part in the revolution and doing whatever he can to help. When he joined the CDM, he did not experience much hardship because of the people who had helped him, so now, he helps soldiers who do not have anybody to help them so that they do not have to face too many difficulties. To date, he has helped something like 29 military personnel and their family members to join the CDM. I am also supporting my husband with all the things he is doing, and I established the People’s Soldiers’ Wives Organization with my CDM sisters. Here, we help with supporting military families in encouraging their husbands and sons to join the CDM. Our People’s Soldiers’ Wives Organization carries out awareness-raising sessions, holds discussions and conversations with families who are vitally important to CDM decisions; additionally, we also support over 70 military family members every month.

The reason we were able to join the CDM and stand on the side of the people is because of the strength of our parents and family. Families can guide soldiers away from following the wrong path and are vitally important when a soldier, or anyone, faces difficulties and obstacles. My husband and I continue to take part in the Spring Revolution and do whatever we can.

By way of conclusion, I would like to list some real scenarios that people who have contacted the People’s Soldiers’ Wives Organization have relayed.

Stories of Joining the CDM

1. One sergeant had a Generation Z son who told his father that he felt ashamed around his friends because the sergeant was in the Air Force. The father was shocked to hear it. He thought about what could happen to his three children in the future and he made the difficult decision to leave the military. He came over to the people’s side relatively late, but even so, he was proud to join the CDM.
2. When one woman married to a soldier saw the military brutally killing people in the protests, she called her husband crying and told him. She had always encouraged him to leave the military. One day, the husband saw, with his own eyes, other soldiers and his superiors brutally dispersing protesters. He gave up on the military and turned to the people’s side. He asked his wife, “We must give up everything. Can you handle that?” and his wife said that she could bravely face everything. At the time of writing in 2022, she is still participating in the people’s revolution. For soldiers, one of the most important factors in deciding whether to join the CDM is the bravery of their wives.
3. The military killed approximately 150 people in one township in a single day following the coup. One young woman travelled to the town where her husband was serving as a captain. There, she took her husband’s hand and together, they left the military.
4. One woman asked her husband (serving as a captain) whether he would shoot at unarmed protesters if ordered to do so. The husband replied, “I will have to shoot people if I am ordered to.” The wife then asked, “What if I was in the protest?” and this question cast doubt in her husband’s mind. Ultimately, the husband decided to choose the CDM journey. We can see that guidance from a wife is important.
5. There was a woman who gave birth to twins, and her entire family believed in justice. The husband (serving as a captain) promised her that he would join the CDM. She waited for her husband at the place where they had agreed to meet, but he never showed up. The reason being that he was worried that the military would make trouble for his parents. She left this husband who could not and would not leave the military. This is an example where the wife acted bravely, but the husband chose not to act ethically.
6. One woman was brainwashed to the hilt due to having spent a long time in the military alongside her husband. Her father, however, outlined the facts and explained the real situation in the country to her. Using various methods, her father and mother convinced her and her husband to join the CDM. Here, we can see the importance of parental encouragement in making the decision to join the CDM.

Endnotes

¹ These were major confrontations in Momauk Township in which the Kachin Independence Army and Northern Alliance made significant strategic victories against the Myanmar military soon after the coup.