Jump to content

Mass shooting puts Thai army officers' side deals under scrutiny


snoop1130

Recommended Posts

Army chief seeks end to military business deals

By The Nation

 

800_e942567f3e71b39.jpg

Army chief General Apirat Kongsompong

 

Army chief General Apirat Kongsompong announced on Tuesday (February 11) that military personnel would be unloading some of their private business interests within three months.

 

The remarkable pledge came as he was apologising for Saturday’s killing spree in which an Army sergeant-major apparently upset over an internal business deal gone wrong shot dead 30 people in downtown Nakhon Ratchasima and wounded 58 others.

 

Apirat extended condolences to the relatives of the people killed and to the injured, promising financial compensation and jobs in the military for their offspring.

 

He acknowledged that the Army had long been involved in various business that enable enlisted men to purchase homes at low cost, but said that would now end.

 

“In three months, officers from general’s to colonel’s rank will definitely not have outside jobs and I don’t care, because I know what can go wrong,” he said. “This is the start to resolving the long-standing problems in the Army.”

 

Apirat said he had cancelled the planned purchases of “welfare guns” – presumably sold to lower ranks at a discount – and senior officers would henceforth have to arrange such purchases through the Army chief of staff.

 

He’s also letting officers live rent-free in their military-assigned homes for decades so they can save money to buy a house of their own after they retire and he wants retired officers to vacate their homes to make way for serving officers who don’t have one.

 

“I will continue making improvements until my last day as Army chief and I have confidence that the next commander will do the same,” Apirat said.

 

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has separately appointed officials to investigate the allocation of land to build houses for sale to military personnel.

 

“This is a great lesson – that all parties must improve to make sure incident like this do not occur again in the future, especially imitative behaviour prompted by websites or social media,” Prayut said.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30382038

 

nation.jpg

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2020-02-12
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

An unprofessional institution whose members have so little to do they look for work on the outside. A total restructuring reducing the numbers of officers commensurate with a country the size of Thailand and taking into account ASEAN'S political situation is the proper way to go. Which of course will never get done.

Edited by Lungstib
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

“I know about this and I want to assure that in the next three months some generals and colonels will lose their jobs,” he said.

All well and good. 

 

An assurance that those found malcontent will be gone in the next few days vice months would resonate much louder; a more resolute finality to a most unfortunate situation!

 

SIT

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“The army is like a closed kingdom,” Anusorn said.

shouldn't really matter, because the army is "transparent" :cheesy:

Quote

The NACC recently named the army the country’s most transparent agency under its Integrity and Transparency Assessment.

maybe the NACC should have named itself as the country's most transparent agency, with the army coming in a close second... :thumbsup:

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

This country really does need a big shake up and some hard kicks in the nuts !

 

 

I don't want to move the knife too hard in the wound ..
Corruption has been endemic in Thailand for hundreds of years; let us not forget that the thais are chinese among whom corruption is born.
BUT since the USA decided to make Thailand its base in the Asian SE and especially since the war against Vietnam, things have gotten much worse.
Difficult, very difficult to talk about what has happened in this country for 50 years; but the CIA has done immense harm to the Thai people by allowing its elites to corrupt themselves enormously and this with impunity.
Those who, like me, have studied American politics in SE Asia a little or a little more, know but cannot of course talk about it on TV.

 

The best and only effective way would be for the US to completely withdraw from Thailand; forget this country; removing billions of dollars donated each year to whom you know and to the military;
abolition of so-called secret CIA prisons; there is one in Udon Thani province not far from Ban Dung ...
And yes, everything comes to know ...
and removal of economic benefits, reduced taxes when they are not simply removed;
And a brutal STOP regarding slavery institutionalized in everything related to fishing and canning ...
If Trump really wanted to kick this rotting anthill he would be in a position to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

I stop dreaming; money goes to money .. and it’s not tomorrow the day before a political leader will have the balls to say STOP

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Marknreston said:

Here’s another example of rampant corruption in the military. My friends brother was in the Army.  He was frequently sent home by his commanding officer so the officer did not have to pay him.  The commander kept this kids salary.  Apparently schemes like this are common.  I was. Dumbfounded this occurred so openly.  

It is also not uncommon for Thais doing their military service to be working at the personal business of their commanding officer (say a gas station for example) instead of actually doing their military service, all this paid by the tax payer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Assurancetourix said:

 

 

I don't want to move the knife too hard in the wound ..
Corruption has been endemic in Thailand for hundreds of years; let us not forget that the thais are chinese among whom corruption is born.
BUT since the USA decided to make Thailand its base in the Asian SE and especially since the war against Vietnam, things have gotten much worse.
Difficult, very difficult to talk about what has happened in this country for 50 years; but the CIA has done immense harm to the Thai people by allowing its elites to corrupt themselves enormously and this with impunity.
Those who, like me, have studied American politics in SE Asia a little or a little more, know but cannot of course talk about it on TV.

 

The best and only effective way would be for the US to completely withdraw from Thailand; forget this country; removing billions of dollars donated each year to whom you know and to the military;
abolition of so-called secret CIA prisons; there is one in Udon Thani province not far from Ban Dung ...
And yes, everything comes to know ...
and removal of economic benefits, reduced taxes when they are not simply removed;
And a brutal STOP regarding slavery institutionalized in everything related to fishing and canning ...
If Trump really wanted to kick this rotting anthill he would be in a position to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

I stop dreaming; money goes to money .. and it’s not tomorrow the day before a political leader will have the balls to say STOP

 

So you are saying:

 

- corruption is linked to ethnicity

- Thai corruption is the fault of the CIA

- Corruption would be diminished if the CIA and US moved out of Asia.

 

Okay ......................................................... ????

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Asernume said:

It is also not uncommon for Thais doing their military service to be working at the personal business of their commanding officer (say a gas station for example) instead of actually doing their military service, all this paid by the tax payer.

My nephew gets sent out every so often to work at his bosses mothers house . He keeps the outside area tidy , cuts the grass , cleans the cars and drives the mother to where she needs to go. They are minted and last guy they had doing similar they bought him a brand new Honda CR-V as a thank you and his career moved upwards quickly. I told the nephew I want a bmw when he’s minted ????

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.









×
×
  • Create New...