Women call for Parliamentary bill to prohibit soldiers and ex-generals from marrying civilians

By our correspondent in Nay Pyi Daw

Women’s organizations have written to all MPs calling on them to introduce a bill prohibiting soldiers and ex-generals from getting married to civilians, in order to protect the nation.

The letter states that the indigenous people of Burma have been under threat from soldiers for many years, and that their numbers have increased massively from the 1960s onwards. In some border areas the local people are swamped with soldiers who rape local women, steal property, burn homes, and take our land, forcing out the local population. They must be prevented from getting married and breeding, or the entire national will be under threat, says the letter.

The women’s groups say that Bill should ensure that any soldier wanting to get married to a civilian must resign from the Army and become a civilian, in order to prevent soldiers swamping the civilian population even further.

A leader of the Union League of Women in Myanmar told Burma Tha Din, “Burma is known around the world as a Buddhist nation, which is known as a peaceful religion, so where did all these soldiers come from? It can be observed that most of the soldiers are in the border areas, which makes us suspicious that they have come from neighboring countries.”

"Soldiers and ex-Generals are taking our land, and control the best businesses in our country," said another women’s leader. "The ex-Generals especially are getting special favors from the United Nations and international governments, while indigenous civilians get nothing."

“A lot of civilian people are afraid their country will suffer even more if the soldier population grows,” said one MP in Parliament. “Our Buddhist monks are worried the soldier population will influence the country.”

When asked to comment on the proposed bill, an NLD spokesperson told Burma Tha Din; “One of the few policies we have is not to comment on important issues if they are controversial.”