PM: ISOC has a role in national development

[snoop1130]

 

BANGKOK (NNT) - The prime minister is calling on all sectors to provide their support toward sub-district level development, in order for the foundation of the country to be strengthened amid the fight against COVID-19.

 

Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha and his deputies were jointly briefed on the fiscal year 2021 work results of the International Security Operations Command (ISOC).

 

The prime minister asserted that ISOC was not a political agency, and had the responsibility of supporting and observing the resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers. The agency works in accordance with administrative and military development-related directives for the purpose of fostering safety in people’s lives and assets. Gen. Prayut added that ISOC adhered to the 20-year national strategy and the 13th National Economic and Social Development Plan.

 

The prime minister took the opportunity to urge all sectors to place importance on subdistrict-level development, which he believed would contribute toward robustness at the district level and province level, and enable communities to navigate the COVID-19 situation.

 

Gen. Prayut noted that the global community admires Thailand for being able to manage its Covid situation well, saying he wanted to ask all parties to comply with disease prevention measures so the nation can move forward and other problems may be addressed.

 

-- © Copyright NNT 2021-12-09

 

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[herfiehandbag]

I thought "Internal Security Operations Command"?

 

Anyway, whatever, given that it is essentially a military organisation, and given this government's, umh, origins, it is about as political as you can get!

 

I assume that the bloke in his nightshirt and the chap in the yellow pyjamas were dragged out of bed after the night shift to join the group photograph...

Edited December 9, 2021 by herfiehandbag

[klauskunkel]

a little bit of history on ISOC (Wikipedia):

 

The Communist Suppression Operations Command (CSOC) was established in 1965 with the assistance of the United States to coordinate nationwide anti-communist operations.

Following the 17 November 1971 coup by military dictators Thanom Kittikachorn and Praphas Charusathien, Praphas appointed himself interior minister, chief of police, and head of CSOC.

 

The CSOC was implicated in several atrocities in its 1970s war against leftist groups. This included the Red Drum Massacre, the mass murder of southern Thai activists by burning them alive in gasoline drums.

 

Student leader Thirayuth Boonmee showed evidence that the destruction of Ban Na Sai village, Bueng Kan District, Nong Khai Province (As of 2011, Bueng Kan Province) in northeast Thailand was the handiwork of the CSOC. The military had earlier claimed that the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) was responsible for the village's destruction.

CSOC's name was changed to ISOC in 1974.

 

ISOC conducted operations in cities and the Thai countryside to subvert leftist groups through propaganda and violence. In 1973, the ISOC commenced a bombing campaign against hill tribe villages in northern Thailand.

 

Prime Minister to-be Prem Tinsulanonda was a senior officer of the ISOC.

 

ISOC received a boost when the 2006 coup installed the government of General Surayud Chulanont. His government passed the Internal Security Act, 2008, granting ISOC the status of a state organization reporting to the Office of the Prime Minister.

 

Thaksin planned a major restructuring of the ISOC prior to the coup which overthrew him in September 2006. Soon after the coup, the junta released three army suspects in the car bomb plot. Junta leader and Army Commander-in-Chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin appointed himself head of ISOC (its previous head had been the prime minister) and transformed ISOC into a "government within a government". The new ISOC was criticized as being a shadowy puppet master pulling the strings of existing agencies, answerable to no one but its leader.

 

Following the 2014 coup, junta leader Prayut Chan-o-cha used ISOC to handle not just military matters, but also political and social issues. In 2017, Prayut issued NCPO Order 51/2017 to bolster ISOC's powers. A key provision was the inclusion of public prosecutors under ISOC's ageis, marking ISOC's first involvement in the Thai justice system. The order also gave ISOC the power to summon citizens to provide "information", a function formerly seen as a police responsibility. ISOC, under the order, is also responsible for "social order", a task previously shared by the police and ministries.

 

In October 2019, ISOC filed sedition charges against 12 opposition politicians and academics, including leaders of Future Forward and Pheu Thai parties. They were accused of inciting insurrection against the state for discussing amendments to the junta-drafted 2017 constitution on 28 September in Pattani Province. Their choice of venue is unfortunate as Pattani operates under a "state of emergency" enacted by the army to combat local separatists. This means that the defendants may be tried in a military tribunal. A leading Thai political scientist warned that giving a militarized surveillance agency free rein in internal security issues risked turning Thailand into a totalitarian state.

 

... and now to quote this PM:

 

11 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The prime minister asserted that ISOC was not a political agency

 

[JimHuaHin]

Firstly, ISOC = Internal Security Operations Command.

 

Secondly, it was set up the American CIA, sorry US military, in 1965 initially called the Central Security Command., to counter communist insurgency in Thailand and win the hearts and minds of the Thai people.

 

Thirdly, it was not terminated when the 3 Indochinese countries joined ASEAN or when the cold war ended, or when the communist threat ended, as the Thai military saw it as a tool to control the people.

 

Finally, various groups associated with ISOC were involved in the 6 October, 1976 Thammasat University massacre, as well as a multitude of other acts of violence against thouse who challenge the Thai status quo.

[mtls2005]

Local version of the STASI.

 

The Saudis probably send their PSS staff here to train.

 

 

[hotchilli]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The prime minister took the opportunity to urge all sectors to place importance on subdistrict-level development, which he believed would contribute toward robustness at the district level and province level, and enable communities to navigate the COVID-19 situation.

More waffle than a bakery.

[Misterwhisper]

ISOC is foremost a MILITARY intelligence agency tasked with population surveillance, the persecution of political dissent, news manipulation, as well as army and government propaganda dissemination, Mr. Prayuth.

 

If you call that "national development", you truly are beyond any help.