The Red Ants of the Tatmadaw
The following was written by Htet Myat, a former Tatmadaw soldier who has since defected, and translated by KZH. The story is made possible from the team behind Breaking Brainwashed.
It is rare for a soldier of Tatmadaw to enter the military willingly, ready to fight. Many enter the Tatmadaw out of fear of being arrested, because they got into some kind of trouble or were just accused of something.
There was a person I knew who was arrested by the police for theft. The police beat him and he was so angry about that. After he was freed from prison, he entered the Tatmadaw. Once he became a soldier, his uniform gave him privileges. He was now above the police, and could provoke them however he wanted.
One day, he encountered the policeman who beat him when he was arrested. He said, ”You are the one who beat me, buddy. So come over here and fight me now!”
Just like this, so many former criminals joined the Tatmadaw with a bad intention to pay back whatever suffered before.
And there are also ones who were forced to join the Tatmadaw. Among the soldiers who were forcibly recruited, there was one who named “Red Ant (Khar Khyain)”.
Our army regiment owned a large vacant plot of land leased to a poultry company. In that field, they were going to use it to make chicken-feed.
As for the land-rent-fees, they had to pay the Tatmadaw about a considerable sum every single month. The battalion chief rolled in wealth every month.
We called that the Kipper Field. The civilians who lived on the outskirts of the battalion sometimes came to steal that kipper with gunny sacks. So, the battalion chief told to us to guard the kipper field. One day, while holding a meeting, the battalion chief urged to recruit new soldiers. The battalion officers were instructed to recruit as much as they could. After the meeting, they consulted the chief. Finally, they got an idea.
The next day, at 2:00AM, they started to see the thief and watched him carefully in silence. Once the thief tried to go back after he packed the gunny sack, they came out of hiding and caught the thief. He couldn’t do anything as he was caught with the evidence. As planned, the thief was arrested and threatened. They threatened the thief": ”You had better to go to prison and if you don’t want that to happen, you must join Tatmadaw!”
The next morning, the guard officer told battalion chief that the thief agreed to enter Tatmadaw! All of the battalion officers came to see him. And then, they saw the thief had redness and bumps all over the body and they asked him if he was really going to enter Tatmadaw. He answered ”Yes, I’ll really enter Tatmadaw and let me out of here as fast as possible, I’m really join. “
Then the battalion chief asked the guard chief “How you did him to agree? Did you beat him as all over his body is redness and bumps?”
And the guard answered, ”I didn’t even touch him. I was just a little impatient and I sent a colony of red ants to his room. And a moment later, he shouted loudly that he wished to enter Tatmadaw and would do anything to get out of there. That’s all, Sir.”
And the battalion chief said, ”You, the cruel one.”
After the thief went to military training, once he became a soldier, he was named ”Red Ant”.
And till now, whenever he saw red ants, he kills them in various ways like firing them and saying, “because of you, ants, I’m here in hell. ”
There are too many soldiers like ”Red Ant” who joined Tatmadaw. They joined because they got in trouble, not with the opinion of protecting the people and country.
In the event of battle, once they hear the sound of gunfire, they always run back instead of trying to know that sound is from which side! You can’t imagine how many soldiers in our great army are perfect cowards.
So, as civilians see soldiers with guns, don’t think they are the ones with all that much experience in battle and who have any intention to protect country and people.
I am saying this not with contempt for the enemy.
Once we have better knowledge and intelligence, I want everyone to do everything with thoughtful consideration. Our PDF fighters are so much better than the military soldiers. They are all “Red Ants”. That’s why we’ll win every battle event!
So, don’t be dispirited and demoralized. If we try harder with our hearts, we will come closer to our goal Democracy.