The Victims of Insecurity: Gen Z
By LinThit (M.A.)
A recent UNDP report titled "A Generation on Edge: Youth Safety and Well-being in Myanmar" states that four out of every ten young people in Myanmar feel mentally insecure.
This issue was recently discussed with several young people, including one who offered a starkly different perspective on the report's findings:
"To my view, I don’t know what the baseline research or interviews for this report were, but in reality, 90% of young people are suffering from this mental insecurity. The remaining 10% are the youth from the elite community. They can afford to drive luxury cars whenever they want, and because of their parents' power and authority, they don't have much to worry about. For ordinary citizens like us, we don’t feel safe even staying inside our house. It's been a while since my mom has allowed me to go outside due to the threat of 'Potter' by the State Administration Council (SAC). Going on a trip is out of the question. Even when I secretly go out, I feel stressed and always unsafe and insecure, worried I’ll face a critical situation whenever I see big vans or people in certain situations. No school, no study, no work; just staying inside the house like a rat has made life hopeless."
This was frankly shared by a Gen Z living in a high-class compound, whose parents are paying 50,000 MMK monthly to the ward administration to keep their son off the conscription list.
Military leaders keep repeating the mantra, "The nation must be built by the strength of the youth." Yet, they turn a blind eye and implicitly permit their subordinates; the military, police, township administration officials, and their affiliated criminal gangs, to blatantly traffic and abduct young people in various locations to send them to the front lines.
Since the conscription law was enforced, my former student, who previously with a corporate job, is no longer working. He said, "I am staying at home and feel completely dependent. I dare not go outside, even to work. Having to pray everytime the household registration list is checked makes life so tense that I think I'm developing a heart attack. If the situation is stable in your village, I would like to move there."
Whenever I ask the young people around me how they feel, the only answer is "mental insecurity and lack of future."
Even as the Military Council keeps saying, "Build the nation with the youth's effort," it is obvious that the police, ward administration officials, and affiliated gang groups are trafficking young people everywhere and sending them to the military under the conscription law. This is done with apparent disregard and permission from the authorities.
As the number of young people who want to leave the country grows, because they feel so suffocated they can barely live safely domestically, authorities are blocking and prohibiting all travel under the pretext of compulsory military service requirements. Furthermore, young people who are already abroad for school or work are being controlled through their visas and passports, essentially being pressured into returning home for military conscription. The wages of overseas laborers are also being exploited: their earnings are forcibly converted using tricky and deceitful methods, often using an unfair exchange rate for the dollar.
Due to insecurity, job scarcity, and the unjust conscription law, many young people have resorted to illegally fleeing the country. The fate of those arrested in neighboring countries is appalling. All young people who are deported are sent to military training and forcibly conscripted. No matter how much human rights and NGO organizations appeal to stop deportations to Myanmar, neighboring countries ignore them.
The lives of the Gen Z (GZ) members within the revolution are also complex. One GZ member, who is part of an ethnic armed group claiming to be revolutionary, offered this sincere reflection:
"I've been here for over three years now. I really miss home. I joined this because I desperately want to fight the military dictatorship. I wish we could fight decisively and go home. But to be honest, it’s frustrating. We are the ones sacrificing our lives to fight and take the camps. Yet, as soon as that is done, the elder leaders negotiate among themselves about where to stop and which positions to give back. I'm sick of it. And transferring to a different unit isn't easy either. [Sigh]..."
Another student, a GZ member serving in a unit under the National Unity Government (NUG) and fighting alongside an Ethnic Resistance Organization (ERO), offered a contrasting view:
"I consider myself lucky to be in this group. Although I miss home, the strong solidarity here, like brothers and sisters, provides a warmth I can feel. We fight when we need to, and we celebrate when we win. But there are times when I really suffer, especially when I see my friends fall right in front of my eyes."
The lives of GZ members in the revolution differ based on their location and organization, leading to varied emotional experiences, but all are subjected to continuous stress.
A former conscript (pa-sa) who had managed to escape once recounted his experience:
"I was lucky to escape. Out of the ten people who ran with me, only six made it out. I heard the other four were recaptured and killed. Eighty percent of the Pa-Sa in our ranks were forcibly arrested. Whenever the column advances, they make us go to the front. When attacking a camp, they order us to charge to our deaths..."
According to ISP surveys, the military is forcibly recruiting around 5,000 conscripts per month. To secure this manpower, the military overlooks criminal activity, rendering the lives of young people highly insecure. As a result, international organizations and embassies have classified Myanmar as being on par with countries like Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Yemen on the list of "World's Most Dangerous Countries."
Looking at all these incidents, it is fair to say that the lives of Myanmar's Gen Z are lost, trapped in a vicious cycle. They have become victims of insecurity. They are struggling just to survive and stand their ground in the present, let alone think about the future. Therefore, it is undeniable that GZ is the demographic most severely affected by the consequences of the military coup. The damage to their education, personal development, and mental health is worst in the present, and their future remains highly uncertain as long as the revolution is incomplete.
[This article was selected, edited, and presented as a section with the intention of strengthening the revolution and enabling the public to engage with diverse perspectives and viewpoints. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author and do not represent the opinion of People's Goal. Readers are encouraged to write comments and discuss the article.]