A 24-year-old fighter from Myanmar’s pro-democracy People’s Defence Force (PDF) says many of those who fight alongside him have switched sides at times in the long-running civil war, with a lack of financial compensation forcing them to temporarily side with a junta-aligned armed group. The fighter, who identified himself only as Soe, joined the PDF to “regain democracy” after the military coup of Feb 1, 2021, which ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Formerly a physics major at a university in Yangon, he has participated in battles in the jungles of southeastern Kayin State as a member of the armed wing of the shadow government formed by Suu Kyi’s party members. But Soe said many PDF fighters now “sometimes change into DKBA uniforms,” referring to the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), an ethnic militia allied with the ruling junta. Speaking to Kyodo News in October in the border town of Payathonzu, he said PDF fighters participate in DKBA operations in exchange for food and money.
Payathonzu, close to the Thai border and one of the front lines in the conflict, is known as a hub for illegal drug trafficking and human smuggling. Controlling large parts of the chaotic town, the DKBA oversees local security and collects more than UScopy0,000 a day in “transit tax” from the dozens of vehicles moving goods from Thailand into Myanmar, according to soldiers from multiple armed groups.
The DKBA also receives rent on land used by scam operations run by Chinese nationals on the outskirts of the town.The DKBA shares this “revenue” with its rivals in Kayin State — the PDF and another pro-democracy Karen ethnic militia — maintaining a delicate and complicated balance among the competing groups, according to soldiers from all three.”We don’t have our own land here. We must obey the local rules,” Soe said of the PDF, whose fighters largely come from the ethnic Bamar majority.
He said they must accept the “dirty reality” to survive, adding, “We don’t have any other options.”Scarred on his right flank and arm from battle and visibly exhausted, he noted that “here, enemies and friends are all mixed up.”Soe paid more than $500 for medical treatment of his injuries — in a country where many day labourers earn copy.90 or less per day. Asked if he still believed the PDF and other resistance forces could defeat the junta and restore democracy, he replied, “Fifty-fifty. I can’t be sure we will win.”
After the coup, peaceful protests were met with a harsh crackdown, leading the demonstrations to evolve into armed resistance. In four years and 10 months of conflict, thousands of civilians and soldiers have been killed, with little serious mediation from the international community. Six pro-democracy fighters in Payathonzu interviewed by Kyodo in October expressed deep distrust in their leaders. They said the PDF’s governing body, the shadow National Unity Government, operates mostly from abroad and is “out of touch with reality on the ground.”
The military has detained Suu Kyi, former president Win Myint, other ministers and senior leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD). Most remaining party members have fled the country. Among those interviewed was a 28-year-old member of the pro-democracy Karen National Union (KNU), who gave his name only as Moe. He previously led fighters armed with 40-millimetre rocket launchers and AK-47s in a siege on a junta base in Kayin State in 2024 and earlier this year. But facing the military’s Russian-supplied defences, the KNU failed to seize the base, and Moe lost 10 men.
“They died in my arms. It is a serious trauma for me,” said Moe, who at the time of the interview was on leave in Payathonzu after a 15-month deployment and living in a shack of less than 10 square meters provided by the KNU.”I don’t want to think about whether we can defeat the junta or not. I don’t want to go back to the front line.” He said he longed for his two sons, aged 11 and nine, who wait for him in Yangon.
“I have my family. What is more important to me now is how we live our lives,” said Moe, originally from the Pa-O minority in Shan State.”If my death could bring back democracy, I would die. But there is no such hope.” He joined the KNU, crossing ethnic lines, because armed rebellion in the northeastern Shan State was slow to start after the coup.
Amid the ongoing conflict across the country, the junta on July 31 lifted the state of emergency it had maintained for four and a half years, ahead of a planned general election. The multi-phase election is scheduled to begin Dec 28 and continue through January. The junta says the vote is “essential for the state to continue on the path of multiparty democracy.”But Suu Kyi’s NLD, dissolved in 2023, and other pro-democracy parties are effectively barred from participating. They have denounced the election as a sham meant to preserve military rule.
The junta says the polls will be held in 80% of the country’s 330 townships, apparently excluding areas controlled by opposition forces.It requested election monitors from Asean in early October, but the proposal was not accepted due to concerns about fairness expressed by some member states, according to officials who attended the regional summit later that month. Only China and Russia have fully backed the election. More than 7,490 people have been killed since the coup, and over 22,700 are in military detention, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Credit-The Bangkok Post