Thai Army chief says public safety to come first in troop scale down

[webfact]

Army chief says public safety to come first in troop scale down



BANGKOK: -- Army commander-in-chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha says public safety must come first for scaling down troop deployment in the capital.

The army chief’s remark came after the Center for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO) has proposed scali ng down the 10,000 troops now deployed to keep peace and order along with 10,000 police in the capital to only 3,000-4,000.

Gen Prayuth said public safety must be ensured in scaling down troop deployment.

There should be no violence and safety should be a priority in downsizing troops, he said.

He said he was also concerned about the conflicts of thoughts and that all sides should come together to bring peace back to the country.

He said each side should stop citing legitimacy of its own as an excuse but should look to the cause of such conflict and resolve it.

He also urged that all rival groups to tone down their aggressive and defiant threat for the sake of peace.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/army-chief-says-public-safety-come-first-troop-scale/


-- Thai PBS 2014-04-29

[Rob8891]

Wise words. I hope they prevail over less wise heads....

[Costas2008]

General, CAPO, is not interested about the safety of the people.

Only interested for the army to go away, so the ground is free for CAPO and the fellow red police to impose their own law on the Yellow protesters.

Glad to see, that someone as you, have a brain in Thailand.

[TVGerry]

Let's see if attacks against the protestors increase after the bulk of the army leaves. I'm sure the police can do this job so much better.

[Scamper]

Prayuth was wise to resist a reduction of a military presence when such calls were made before. And it is clear in this very carefully worded yet diplomatic statement that he is not rushing into anything - despite the calls from Thaksin's cousin. CAPO and the police have a horrible record, and the army have acquitted themselves with dignity. Also, the frequency and intensity of the grenades attacks has been contained to a greater degree and there is no question the protesters are safer because of the army presence. Pheu Thai do not have clean hands on this issue. Their argument is corrupted by self-interest. Prayuth will act very cautiously, and he will place the welfare of the people before that of Chalerm and Surapong.

[BlueNoseCodger]

He said each side should stop citing legitimacy of its own as an excuse but should look to the cause of such conflict and resolve it.

Bizarre logic, if he ran "Thailand's got talent" would he undermine the winning singer? Would he send the army to protect the number 2 in the voting? To share the prize to end the conflict, and admit they both have talent, even though one won and one lost?

When he does that, he's effectively picking sides with the loser, and undermining the competition. That is not neutral. There is only one legitimate government, and that is the elected one.

The only way forward here is elections. In this case by pretending to be 'neutral' the competition he's undermining is 'democracy'.

Edited April 29, 2014 by BlueNoseCodger

[chainarong]

One can be sure that if the red shirts step out of line the troops will be back and sure as there are banana's at the night markets, the red shirts will step up attacks, as like a compulsive w!!ker , they can not help themselves.

[Melyn]

The only people talking sense at the moment are Abhisit and Prayuth

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[BlueNoseCodger]

Let's see if attacks against the protestors increase after the bulk of the army leaves. I'm sure the police can do this job so much better.

What protestors?

Keep in mind there's 2500 guards, how many of the others are protestors???

IMHO, he should take the army, clear out the guards and take the troops back to barracks. End this flop coup, and we go back to elections and democracy.

Edited April 29, 2014 by BlueNoseCodger

[Mentors]

Slow-motion Putsch in progress

Edited April 29, 2014 by Mentors

[michaelscottfan]

Let's see if attacks against the protestors increase after the bulk of the army leaves. I'm sure the police can do this job so much better.

What protestors?

Keep in mind there's 2500 guards, how many of the others are protestors???

IMHO, he should take the army, clear out the guards and take the troops back to barracks. End this flop coup, and we got back to elections and democracy.

Haha, wow. Looks like the rats are starting to jump ship, a good sign for the country.

[WhizBang]

Oops, that is going to put a crimp in CAPO's plans to 're-establish peace and order'.

[TVGerry]

Let's see if attacks against the protestors increase after the bulk of the army leaves. I'm sure the police can do this job so much better.

What protestors?

Keep in mind there's 2500 guards, how many of the others are protestors???

IMHO, he should take the army, clear out the guards and take the troops back to barracks. End this flop coup, and we go back to elections and democracy.

The protestors are there exercising their right to protest. If the police do their jobs in protecting everyone and that includes the protestors, that's fine. However I'm pretty sure the cowards from the other side are going to start lobbing bombs again once the army moves off. The police are way over their head here.

[gabruce]

He said each side should stop citing legitimacy of its own as an excuse but should look to the cause of such conflict and resolve it.

Bizarre logic, if he ran "Thailand's got talent" would he undermine the winning singer? Would he send the army to protect the number 2 in the voting? To share the prize to end the conflict, and admit they both have talent, even though one won and one lost?

When he does that, he's effectively picking sides with the loser, and undermining the competition. That is not neutral. There is only one legitimate government, and that is the elected one.

The only way forward here is elections. In this case by pretending to be 'neutral' the competition he's undermining is 'democracy'.

Logic like yours is why there are failed states and internal conflicts. As soon as ONLY the majority matters, or only the government matters (fascism), then the minority will cause problems if their pain is severe enough. In my opinion PEACE is much more important than spouting some nonsense like might makes right, and majority rules no matter what. If the majority decided to shoot me, I would say no, and would do everything in my power to prevent it. In your example you would condone allow the winner and his supporters to gang up and beat the loser to death? I think not, so think your argument through.

[Lupatria]

The headline gave me the impression, they finally want to get rid of 600 of their redundant Generals, but then...

[BlueNoseCodger]

He said each side should stop citing legitimacy of its own as an excuse but should look to the cause of such conflict and resolve it.

Bizarre logic, if he ran "Thailand's got talent" would he undermine the winning singer? Would he send the army to protect the number 2 in the voting? To share the prize to end the conflict, and admit they both have talent, even though one won and one lost?

When he does that, he's effectively picking sides with the loser, and undermining the competition. That is not neutral. There is only one legitimate government, and that is the elected one.

The only way forward here is elections. In this case by pretending to be 'neutral' the competition he's undermining is 'democracy'.

Logic like yours is why there are failed states and internal conflicts. As soon as ONLY the majority matters, or only the government matters (fascism), then the minority will cause problems if their pain is severe enough. In my opinion PEACE is much more important than spouting some nonsense like might makes right, and majority rules no matter what. If the majority decided to shoot me, I would say no, and would do everything in my power to prevent it. In your example you would condone allow the winner and his supporters to gang up and beat the loser to death? I think not, so think your argument through.

No, the majority is only really an assembly of minorities. Who together decided to vote for a leader they agreed with. The oppositions role is to then find common ground with more minorities, so that it can form the next majority at the next election, by uniting more minorities on more issues. These majorities and minorities are not fixed things, they're transient assemblies. Yingluk won 56 more seats by convincing more Democrats voters to vote for her at the last election.

Your hypothesis that the winner might gang up and beat the loser to death, exists in only in your imagination. To create a majority you need to take the moderate middle with you. So you'd never achieve the support needed to beat the losers to death as you put it, because you'd have to hold moderate positions to gain widespread support!

Majority Support = Moderate Broad Appeal Government

In contrast to the coup case, where a minority takes power from the majority. Then they don't need to hold moderate positions, they can authorize live fire against protestors, have massacres, censorship, fake independent agencies, and other attrocities. They no longer need the appoval of a majority and so no longer need to convince the moderate middle ground on any issue. Worse, to sustain the injustice of a coup, they actually need force and coercion.

i.e. 100k people can win against 10k people, so a coup requires the 10k people to be armed soldiers with a kill ratio of greater than 10:1 to sustain the coup.

Minority Coup Government requires: Kill Ratio > (Majority/Minority)

Edited April 29, 2014 by BlueNoseCodger

[jcb2001]

He said each side should stop citing legitimacy of its own as an excuse but should look to the cause of such conflict and resolve it.

Bizarre logic, if he ran "Thailand's got talent" would he undermine the winning singer? Would he send the army to protect the number 2 in the voting? To share the prize to end the conflict, and admit they both have talent, even though one won and one lost?

When he does that, he's effectively picking sides with the loser, and undermining the competition. That is not neutral. There is only one legitimate government, and that is the elected one.

The only way forward here is elections. In this case by pretending to be 'neutral' the competition he's undermining is 'democracy'.

This is not about elections. It is about ensuring all the residents of Bangkok are safe to go about their daily activities. Without the Army around, do you think the police will protect the people. The police do not have a good track record for finding bombers, and shooters. At least the military have the fortitude to attempt to protect the people. Good on you, General.

[BlueNoseCodger]

He said each side should stop citing legitimacy of its own as an excuse but should look to the cause of such conflict and resolve it.

Bizarre logic, if he ran "Thailand's got talent" would he undermine the winning singer? Would he send the army to protect the number 2 in the voting? To share the prize to end the conflict, and admit they both have talent, even though one won and one lost?

When he does that, he's effectively picking sides with the loser, and undermining the competition. That is not neutral. There is only one legitimate government, and that is the elected one.

The only way forward here is elections. In this case by pretending to be 'neutral' the competition he's undermining is 'democracy'.

This is not about elections. It is about ensuring all the residents of Bangkok are safe to go about their daily activities. Without the Army around, do you think the police will protect the people. The police do not have a good track record for finding bombers, and shooters. At least the military have the fortitude to attempt to protect the people. Good on you, General.

If they wanted to do that, they'd clear out the armed militia in the center of town. As it is, the guards captured a senior Colonel, shot him, beat him and the army response was a big meh, they filed a police complaint.

So I don't exactly expect them to do anything when it comes to ordinary Bangkok residents, if they take only minimal action when the guards nearly kill one of their own colonels.

Did they take action when Yuem Nillah was captured, beaten, tied up, dressed up with whistle and arm band to make him look PDRC, and thrown in the river to drown? No, they did nothing.

Edited April 29, 2014 by BlueNoseCodger

[issanaus]

If some one does things that everybody likes the right thing is probably been done - but the two camps can not agree on anything so that will not happen.

If someone makes one side happy and not the other then they are not being even-handed in most situation

The Army chief is upsetting both camps at one time or another so very likely is doing the right thing at least by the people of the Kingdom of Thailand who he is supposed to protect.

What is certain is that the Army chief is winning the trust of the centre - so I can understand why the extremes don't like him

He is either very smart, has some very good adviser or both.

[BlueNoseCodger]

If some one does things that everybody likes the right thing is probably been done - but the two camps can not agree on anything so that will not happen.

If someone makes one side happy and not the other then they are not being even-handed in most situation

The Army chief is upsetting both camps at one time or another so very likely is doing the right thing at least by the people of the Kingdom of Thailand who he is supposed to protect.

What is certain is that the Army chief is winning the trust of the centre - so I can understand why the extremes don't like him

He is either very smart, has some very good adviser or both.

But he has been one-sided, and he hasn't protected Thai people. He doesn't have the trust of the centre, and I suspect he's losing it among his own troops.

They've been shooting and killing people and the army has excused it and simply handed it to the police. So what use is the army then?

"Meanwhile, Lt.Gen. Abhirat Kongsomphong, commander of the 1st Infantry Division, said he believes the soldiers were shot "due to misunderstanding", without naming anyone as suspected perpetrators. Lt.Gen. Abhirak added that the army has already lodged complaints over the shooting at Dusit Police Station."

The shot colonel said he recognized his attackers, he even knew who which of the PCAD guards they were and yet the response from the army? Nothing. The Colonels brother ended up reporting it to the police! When it comes to ordinary Bangkok folk, they are turning up dead in rivers and don't even warrant an army mention.

He needs to clear out the armed militia in the center of Bangkok and do his job.

[issanaus]

I actually think that he is gaining the trust of the people/ the centre. There have been times in Thailand's history where the armed forces have shall we say been a bit to interested in gaining power for their own ends. The chief of the armed forces has been doing everything that is wrong IF his goal had been to take power.

Lets work on your assumption that the protest site is home to 2000 of the worst armed thugs in Thailand. You are complaining that he has not cleared them out and in fact in your opinion have been protecting them. Here is a question - what is the difference between a fortress and a prison - Answer - which way the razor wire slopes at the top.

Instead of having that many men armed in unknown locations he has them all in one spot and with positions in the area that can rapidly be armed if the situation gets worse and the pose a more significant threat to the public.

Back to reality

The reason for the guards (how ever many there really are) is that there were ongoing terrorist style attacks on the various protest sites. The intention of such attacks is twofold: To intimidate people there to leave and to incite an over reaction, in both regards the attacks have succeeded and one of the reasons for the decline in attacks is to let the public forget the attacks and remember the over reaction.

[rickirs]

So long as the PDRC maintains an armed guard force of 2,500 peace will be threatened. Even the military has been subjected to gunfire and beatings by PDRC guards. There needs to be a complete disarmament of all civilians in protest and voting areas at least until the election is completed. But we know from past experience that the police are incapable of enforcing the rule of law EVEN WHEN UNDER ATTACK. At least we can trust some quick response from the military. They need to stay until the National Assembly has been elected.

[marcusd]

Well the General is correct. Both sides need to drop the attitude and as he says.. Look to,the causes of the conflict.

Marcusd. Via tapatalk

[marcusd]

He said each side should stop citing legitimacy of its own as an excuse but should look to the cause of such conflict and resolve it.

Bizarre logic, if he ran "Thailand's got talent" would he undermine the winning singer? Would he send the army to protect the number 2 in the voting? To share the prize to end the conflict, and admit they both have talent, even though one won and one lost?

When he does that, he's effectively picking sides with the loser, and undermining the competition. That is not neutral. There is only one legitimate government, and that is the elected one.

The only way forward here is elections. In this case by pretending to be 'neutral' the competition he's undermining is 'democracy'.

well its obvious with your statement of choosing number 2 in Thailand's got talent, that you certainly don't.

A useable brain is a start

Marcusd. Via tapatalk

[marcusd]

Let's see if attacks against the protestors increase after the bulk of the army leaves. I'm sure the police can do this job so much better.

What protestors?

Keep in mind there's 2500 guards, how many of the others are protestors???

IMHO, he should take the army, clear out the guards and take the troops back to barracks. End this flop coup, and we go back to elections and democracy.

IMHO not WE but THEM GO BACK TO ELECTIONS maybe after there is something to vote for, on and about other than pocket filling thieves

Marcusd. Via tapatalk