Junta officials have been extorting people applying for new mandatory ID cards and household registrations in Mon State according to research by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM).

According to local sources who HURFOM spoke to, since the February 2021 coup, people who apply for new Identity Cards and household registration are being extorted by officers from the Immigration and Population Township Department, asking for more than 100,000 kyats in Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State.

Residents of Thanbyuzayat have to apply and register for their ID card at age 18 and extend them at the township department of the Ministry of Immigration and Population.

“For those who can’t or don’t want to pay, the officers make appointments repeatedly, and those who pay as requested can register within the same day. Bribes are believed to be distributed at various levels within the department,” said a Thanbyuzayat Township resident who registered for an ID card this year.

“I have been working in Thailand for more than ten years. When I returned to the city, I had to apply for a new household registration and ID card at the office in Thanbyuzayat. The officer said that I would have to pay 800,000 Myanmar Kyats if I did a new registration,” said a resident of Thanbyuzayat Township.

The registration department is not a first-come, first-served arrangement, instead the staff’s friends and acquaintances will be prioritized as a privileged class.

There are also cases of extortion at the Maloa Taung checkpoint on the Yangon-Dawei road, where people who have not extended their ID card yet are extorted and interrogated more than regular travelers.

A resident who went to register said that he did not want to pay money, but he had to do it as a necessity because he was being pressured to change his registration during the military coup.

A 22-year-old local young man told HURFOM, “Before the military coup, people were asking for money like this in this area, but the amount was not as high as it is now.”

Similarly, the Ministry of Immigration and Population of Mawlamyine, Mon State, has unfairly asked for more than 600,000 to 1,000,000 Kyats from the Muslims who applied for new ID cards.

In comparison, the Muslims from Thanbyuzayat town had to pay up to 800,000 Kyats, according to a Muslim minority.