Brigadier-General Nyo Twan Awng, deputy commander-in-chief of the Arakan Army (AA), has invited intellectuals and professionals to serve Arakan State as the state’s mechanisms need more qualified personnel.

He uploaded a New Year’s wish in the Arakanese language, titled “New Year Wish; ULA’s Alarm Bell Sounds”, on January 1 via the social network Telegram.

“I ring the bell to give a message of inviting more intellectuals and technicians to work for Arakan State’s mechanisms full time. The state needs more such people as well as those who are working to defend the fatherland,” Brigadier-General Nyo Twan Awng wrote.

The people need to prove their work ethic by working three or four times more than before and must work unitedly so that they can see victory as early as possible, he urged the public in his New Year’s message.

“To reach the golden new years for Arakanese people depends on the generation of this time. We will receive good results when we work hard. We will get what we need when we fight,” he said.

U Khaing Kaung San, director of the Wan Lark Foundation, said the urging of the AA’s Brigadier General Nyo Twan Awng is a positive move.

“Inviting intellectuals and professionals to work for Arakan State is an act of a wise leader,” he said.

“I see it as a positive move as he invited the people for the fatherland. We need to work for the state as much as we can. Involving [oneself] in the revolution is an attempt to establish a country we expect,” he said.

Fierce fighting broke out between the military and AA in Arakan State starting at the end of 2018, and halting in the first week of November 2020 thanks to an informal, mutual understanding.

During the ceasefire period, the AA has been working for the administrative and judicial sectors of the state, to gain influence in the state in both realms. On the other hand, junta forces visited villages and warned villagers and administrators not to have affiliations with the AA and not to be involved in the administrative activities of the AA.