Residents of downtown wards in Dawei City, Tanintharyi Region reported on 23 September 2024 that they are having to pay bribes to ward administrators to register guests on the overnight guest registration list.
By law any visitors staying overnight in someone else’s home need to be registered on the overnight guest registration list. Prior to the coup overnight guest lists were no longer checked, but since the coup they are being frequently checked and punishments are meted out if overnight guest lists are not properly filled out.
A resident of Dawei City said that in the downtown wards of Dawei City the junta began implementing overnight guest registration checks in 2021. But, until recently registering guests on the list was free.
She said to the Karen Information Center (KIC): “Previously, we didn't have to pay any money. Recently, people have frequently been required to register overnight guest registrations in these wards. The ward administrator is charging 3,000 Kyats [MMK] for the initial registration and an extra 4,000 Kyats every month.”
Normally, if guests are staying more than one night they only need to reregister on the overnight guest list once a month. But, residents in Waekyunn Myothit, Kyaukmaw, and Kyetsarpying wards in Dawei City must also re-register overnight guests as frequently as every 7 or 10 days. A Kyetsarpying ward resident also confirmed that the ward administrator is personally demanding various sums of money to carry out these reregistrations.
To register overnight guests the household head must submit two 4x6-inch photographs of all the household’s residents and the guests staying there. Ward administrators have also said that if the number of guests staying in a household exceeds a specified number action will be taken against the householder and guests.
Another Dawei City resident said to KIC: “Each ward has different rules. The overnight guest registration dates are also not the same. In some wards, there are displaced people [IDPs] who fled from other places due to fighting. When residents cannot afford the registration fees from these wards, and if they fail to complete the overnight guest registrations, the ward administrator threatens them by saying they will not take any responsibility [for residents errors].”
