Bangkok, Thailand – Aung, a high school English teacher, figured it was high time to leave Myanmar the day the military generals who took over the country stepped up enforcement of a long-dormant conscription law they had dredged up.
That was at the end of January, a little more than 11 months after the generals announced plans for widespread conscription, in order to cope with their military’s mounting desertions and battlefield losses to armed groups fighting back against their 2021 coup.
