Against a slow decline in resistance attacks in the commercial capital, junta-aligned neighbourhood security teams are openly harassing and extorting communities.
By FRONTIER
Early last year, junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun announced that local security teams manned by civilians would be established to support the security forces and “protect” communities.
“Terrorist acts against the public and innocent children will only stop when the public security team system is implemented,” he told a press conference on April 27 of 2022, referring to attacks by groups resisting the 2021 coup that have mostly targeted police, soldiers, officials and alleged military informers.
Since Zaw Min Tun’s announcement, security teams have mushroomed in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city and former capital. Sources say each ward has one security team consisting of 15 to 20 members. Although they lack uniforms, some operate in large, conspicuous groups, while others try to blend in with local communities. Their activities vary, but they typically involve spying on resistance groups, inspecting homes for unregistered guests and participating in raids by security forces.
“If soldiers and police check a house, they keep an eye on the situation outside,” said Daw Nyo Aye*, a resident of Yangon’s North Okkalapa Township.
They also assist the security forces in street searches and arrests, as Hlaing Township resident Ma Aye Suu Mon* witnessed in July.
“One day I saw three men in their early twenties surrounded by two policemen and about 10 people in civilian clothes, swearing and questioning them on Insein Road. The three young men had got off a bus and they were immediately surrounded and interrogated,” she said.
“They didn’t look like bad guys and I don’t know why they were being checked, but it was very disturbing. I left soon and didn’t watch their interrogation until the end, so I don’t know what happened next,” she added.
Members of security teams have also been accused of abusing their power by extorting and casually mistreating ordinary civilians, creating a climate of fear in many neighbourhoods.
“Although they’re called security teams, their behaviour goes against that name,” said Ma Aye Nwe*, another North Okkalapa resident. “They only seem to cause trouble for the public. But we have no choice. We have to interact with them and we can’t ignore them.”
A changing city
Yangon has changed dramatically since the early days following the February 2021 coup. Back then, as mass protests filled the daylight hours, communities established their own security teams to patrol neighbourhoods at night. Armed with sticks, metal pipes and sometimes swords, they tried to guard against military saboteurs and deter raids.
But after the military slaughtered thousands of protestors and tore down street barricades, these neighbourhood groups disappeared, to be replaced by urban guerrillas who launched a campaign of assassinations against members of the regime and their alleged informers.
However, this guerrilla activity seems to have substantially subsided in Yangon over the last year, even as fighting reaches new heights in Myanmar’s borderlands and the central Dry Zone.
Neighbourhood-based security teams have returned in force to the city – but this time under the military’s command.
“I’ve noticed a decrease in the activities of revolutionary forces in Yangon recently, like assassinating individuals who held high positions under the junta,” said Ko Tun Myint*, a Yangon resident.
“I’ve heard about bombings here and there, but I think the People’s Defence Forces are focusing on other areas [besides] Yangon,” he said, referring to post-coup resistance groups known generally as PDFs. He added that if resistance attacks increased in Yangon again, “the security teams might be deterred.”
According to data collected by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project and curated by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, incidents of attacks, armed clashes and explosions in Yangon have declined considerably since last year. In July of 2022, there were 54 incidents, compared to 19 in the same month this year. The rate has continued to drop since then, with fewer than 10 incidents each reported in the last three months.
A member of a volunteer information team – groups that collect intelligence about the movements of junta forces and publicly share it on social media channels – in South Dagon Township said that regime loyalists were previously deterred by assassinations, but no longer.
“Lately, they have been operating more openly,” he said.
Extortion and impunity
The junta’s security teams are reportedly most active in townships on the outskirts of Yangon like Dagon Seikkan, South Dagon and North Okkalapa. However, they can also be seen in more central areas like Hledan junction in Kamaryut Township, often flanked by conventional members of the security forces and local officials. This is pushing residents to take extreme precautions to avoid trouble.
“I’m taking Japanese language lessons and I don’t dare take my phone with me when I go to class,” said Kamaryut resident Ko Lin Thu*. “People from the military council are always checking young people’s phones. They are usually groups with policemen, soldiers and civilians. You don’t know where you’re going to find them because they’re always moving.”
Yangon residents and members of resistance groups told Frontier the security teams are managed by ward administrators who follow orders from their local police stations. They consist of poor individuals seeking work, members of criminal gangs, firefighters, members of the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party and people involved in illegal gambling.
Daw Aye Thu*, a resident of the Yangon suburbs whose township she asked to be withheld, said the regime targets low-income workers, offering them not only payment, but also opportunities for extortion.
“They regularly approach places like gambling houses to demand money, using their authority to get extra income,” she said, adding that the income from various sources can be substantial. “A man who used to sell lottery tickets in our ward joined the local security team and has since even bought a house with land.”
South Dagon resident Ko Htin Lin* said the security teams will also randomly detain young people and demand payment.
“These teams apprehend and inspect youths they encounter on the streets during their patrols. They threaten and demand money from those they arrest, only releasing them once payment is made,” he claimed.
Residents say they get away with these actions because they’ve been empowered by regime officials.
“They hold considerable authority and are given full power by soldiers and police,” alleged a member of another volunteer information group in Dagon Seikkan. “They even inspect houses themselves and torture the people they arrest.”
A particularly infamous group called Hawk has emerged in the township and operates more openly than others. Locals said they patrol Dagon Seikkan and South Dagon townships during the day, sticking to the former at night. One resident said its members include trishaw taxi drivers, who wear shirts emblazoned with the word Hawk.
While many join these security teams because they need money, others are allegedly pressured into it. Sources said ward administrators in South Dagon and North Okkalapa have ordered households to participate in a rotating patrol system or pay a fee to skip it.
“Most residents give money because they don’t want to patrol themselves,” said Ko Kyaw Latt*, a resident of North Okkalapa. “I’m not sure where the money goes. This practice started around June and the fee was increased to K1,500 in September.”
In May last year the National Unity Government, a parallel administration appointed by lawmakers ousted in the coup, announced that members of these security teams can be considered military targets, rather than civilians, and therefore can be dealt with through “military means”.
The ‘spirit of revolution’ endures
In his announcement last year, junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun indicated security teams would be established in other cities and towns. But residents of Mandalay and Nay Pyi Taw said while they have seen plain clothes individuals with police, they haven’t been as active as described in Yangon.
“I’m not sure if the teams exist here,” said Daw Tin Win*, a woman in Mandalay. “I’ve just seen individuals in plain clothes at traffic police checkpoints.”
U Zaw Mya*, motorbike taxi driver in Nay Pyi Taw, said he’s observed a similar practice outside a USDP office in Zabuthiri Township, where plain clothes men also help man a traffic police checkpoint.
“I can say with confidence that they’re from the USDP because they wear a party pin on their shirts,” he said.
Back in Yangon, Kamaryut resident Ko Ka Mar* said outsiders shouldn’t assume that the decrease in resistance attacks and growth of pro-junta security teams mean people in the city support the regime.
“Although people are compelled to interact with organisations under junta control in their daily lives, they maintain a spirit of revolution as always,” he said.
*indicates the use of a pseudonym for security reasons
