NCPO returns chief forensic position to Khunying Porntip

[Neurath]

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Whatever one may think of her, she is with no doubt the best in her profession this country has and she did not give in to VIP-cops intervening in some cases where "influential people" were involved.

I am quite impressed to see that it is possible to get things going in the right direction in a very short period of time. Compared to the number of years when progress and positive developments was only to the benefit of a few, i'd say - well done so far.

Is that an empirically supported proposition? You know, that she is the best in her profession in this country. I don't know. However, the position taken on the GT scanners - that they work if people believe in them enough - is more than enough to indicate that someone has difficulty in determining what an empirical issue is and how such issues should be decided. [Opinion here - someone who rides roughshod over empirical issues is not well suited to forensic work, not well suited at all.]

I agree with you regarding the GT scanners. However, she did a good job in investigations of fishy murder cases, even against police opinions and she did an outstanding job after the tsunami when she trained a team in a very short time helping to identify uncounted victims...

I have no doubt that she has done exemplary work and wouldn't dream of stated otherwise. However, it might be thought that asymmetrically applied empirical sense and judgement is worse than none at all as it leaves open the question of whether it will be applied in particular cases or overridden for other (non-empirical) reasons. Confidence in forensic science depends on belief that it will always be applied.

[HerbalEd]

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Oh ok. So the nepotism is starting.

Huh? Is she a relative of Prayuth? Otherwise your comment doesn't make sense.

Makes a lot of sense.

Your reply certainly doesn't make sense. Care to elaborate? Do you actually have anything to say that would enlighten us?

[bigbamboo]

GT200 bomb detectors anyone?

I guess everyone makes mistakes.

Maybe she was having a bad hair day?

[harrry]

She was aparently quite shocked when she was questioned when she was an Expert Witness in a Malasian court.

[partington]

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Oh ok. So the nepotism is starting.

Huh? Is she a relative of Prayuth? Otherwise your comment doesn't make sense.

She is absolutely the Army's stooge. She stood front and square with them claiming that she had used the GT 2000 and that in her opinion they worked. She was responsible for creating reports using the GT 2000 that convicted various people of offences during the police crack down on the PAD. She is a sham.

Reinstating her has absolutely NOTHING to do with putting the proper person in position but is absolutely to do with repaying favours given.,

The whole point is you used the wrong word!

Nepotism specifically means appointing or giving advantage to direct members of your family.

It only refers to family - it doesn't mean just giving favours to people who support you .

[djjamie]

This lady is a hero of mine. She is by far the most qualified person for the job.

She has worked for the Thai people tirelessly for over 25 years. She lived in a bus for months identifying bodies after the devastation of the Tsunami. It was a thankless job done with a rare professionalism under challenging circumstances. In fact the Social Development and Human Security Ministry honoured her work identifying the tsunami victims by naming her an outstanding defender of human rights. She has written 2 top selling books and is a role model for young Thai women.

Her only crime is being too good at her job and showing an incorruptibility that the thaksin clan hate.. Her findings in murder cases often contradicted those of the Thai police. In some cases, they even showed police involvement in extra-judicial killings. As a result of Dr Porntip's work, Amnesty International has condemned the Thai police for its corruption.

Due to her incredible skills in forensics and the morals she adhered to she made many enemies in thaksins police force that were known to be shady at best. She in fact has interesting findings on Akeyuth who was murdered and a vocal critic of thaksin and yingluck. Due to the enemies she made His Majesty ensured that she was protected from Thailand's shady police. The monarch also awarded her the aristocratic title of khunying.

She is not related to Preyuth through blood or marriage. She is married to her work and she is phenomenal at her job.

​It is incredibly breathtaking that the same people that denounce her transfer to this position defend a party that put Surapong that had self admittedly no knowledge of foreign affairs, no understanding of what the job entailed and was placed in the position to simply issue a passport as foreign affairs minister.

Good Luck girl. You make Thailand proud.

Edited June 20, 2014 by djjamie

[FangFerang]

I don't agree with this reshuffle at all. There are way too many questions about both people (who merely traded positions). Non-action from the former chief forensic scientist (which is the action plan for the last ten years and has lead to absolutely nothing), and the GT200 unresolved scandal of the renewed current leader (Thai scientists confirmed the devices had no innards that could make it work, much less be inserted with 'smart cards' and detect human corpses in sunken containers found off the coast).

I think it was a lost chance to send in some new blood eager to prove themselves. Maybe the Thai military wants no southern resolution. More troops and their big budget are in the south than many critics say are necessary. This is bound to always be a sticking point question -- what General would make a decision that lowered his own budget? Answer -- none.

I am not surprised though. More people die every year in the south from insurgency than all the clashes in Bangkok since 1995.

Here comes the new boss, (exactly) the same as the old boss...this is an old problem that has been very profitable for both sides of the divide, and apparently will continue to be cash profit with a human cost nobody really cares about.

Edited June 20, 2014 by FangFerang

[rebelplatoon]

Although rather flamboyant, she's the best at her job. Got fired because she was finding out things the previous administration didn't like.

Best of luck Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan !

[smutcakes]

Although rather flamboyant, she's the best at her job. Got fired because she was finding out things the previous administration didn't like.

Best of luck Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan !

What did she find out?

[The Deerhunter]

More interesting might be who removed her in the first place.

I am sure you have read her book in which case it is a rhetorical question. She was not popular with (shall we say) previous administrations for wanting to find the truth and identfy every body & exactly how each one died. "The dead will talk again." Good one, General & Ky Porntip. I am a genuine fan of her; & the general keeps going up in my estimation too. To everyone. If you have not read her book, do so.

Edited June 20, 2014 by The Deerhunter

[Now or Never]

More interesting might be who removed her in the first place.

It was the Shinawatra regime who removed her from office and replaced her with one of their cronies.

She is a competent forensic scientist.

[Neurath]

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This lady is a hero of mine. She is by far the most qualified person for the job.

She has worked for the Thai people tirelessly for over 25 years. She lived in a bus for months identifying bodies after the devastation of the Tsunami. It was a thankless job done with a rare professionalism under challenging circumstances. In fact the Social Development and Human Security Ministry honoured her work identifying the tsunami victims by naming her an outstanding defender of human rights. She has written 2 top selling books and is a role model for young Thai women.

Her only crime is being too good at her job and showing an incorruptibility that the thaksin clan hate.. Her findings in murder cases often contradicted those of the Thai police. In some cases, they even showed police involvement in extra-judicial killings. As a result of Dr Porntip's work, Amnesty International has condemned the Thai police for its corruption.

Due to her incredible skills in forensics and the morals she adhered to she made many enemies in thaksins police force that were known to be shady at best. She in fact has interesting findings on Akeyuth who was murdered and a vocal critic of thaksin and yingluck. Due to the enemies she made His Majesty ensured that she was protected from Thailand's shady police. The monarch also awarded her the aristocratic title of khunying.

She is not related to Preyuth through blood or marriage. She is married to her work and she is phenomenal at her job.

​It is incredibly breathtaking that the same people that denounce her transfer to this position defend a party that put Surapong that had self admittedly no knowledge of foreign affairs, no understanding of what the job entailed and was placed in the position to simply issue a passport as foreign affairs minister.

Good Luck girl. You make Thailand proud.

Banharn's wife is a Khunying. Podjaman is a Khunying. Chavalit's wife also. Hard pressed to find anyone in the upper eschelon families who doesn't have at least one regardless of their predilection for particular shirt color. Anyway, that's beside the point. What do you make of her statements about the GT scanners? Is it even remotely possible that stating that they work is honest and plausible? I suppose given what you have said above, you would have to say that it is both honest and plausible? Well, as they say, up to you.

[Neurath]

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More interesting might be who removed her in the first place.

It was the Shinawatra regime who removed her from office and replaced her with one of their cronies.

She is a competent forensic scientist.

Perhaps, but why that statement about the GT scanners?

[smutcakes]

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More interesting might be who removed her in the first place.

It was the Shinawatra regime who removed her from office and replaced her with one of their cronies.

She is a competent forensic scientist.

Perhaps, but why that statement about the GT scanners?

Umm given who has just put her back in her position, do you need someone to spell it out?

[The Deerhunter]

GT200 bomb detectors anyone?

I guess everyone makes mistakes.

Maybe she was having a bad hair day?

Why was she asked. They are hardly the erea of expertise she is renowned for. On top of all the above she is a cancer survivor too. Great lady & never gives up on anything.

[The Deerhunter]

GT200 bomb detectors anyone?

I guess everyone makes mistakes.

Maybe she was having a bad hair day?

Why was she asked. They are hardly the area of expertise she is renowned for. On top of all the above she is a cancer survivor too. Great lady & never gives up on anything.

[smutcakes]

GT200 bomb detectors anyone?

I guess everyone makes mistakes.

Maybe she was having a bad hair day?

Why was she asked. They are hardly the area of expertise she is renowned for. On top of all the above she is a cancer survivor too. Great lady & never gives up on anything.

Maybe like any professionally qualified person if you are asked something outside of your expertise, you kindly point out that to be the case otherwise you can end up in serious trouble. Even someone freshly qualified knows this. Surely this 'Great lady' should also know her limitations of knowledge.

[rajyindee]

She is a competent forensic scientist.

She was/is Director of The Central Institute of Forensic Science, but I don't think she, herself is a forensic scientist, competent or otherwise.

[Prbkk]

Always wondered about the bomb detector things for it wasn't just Thailand that was fooled into buying them but a fair part of the world as well.

There were Demos where police and armys in many parts of the world tested the things and found that they worked.

Could it be that the test batch did in fact work but when it came to delivery all the expensive guts had been removed and replaced with a few useless wires.

The gent who made, sold them has now been locked up for a long time after it being proved what he sold were fakes.

Nonsense. It was not "a fair part of the world". It was Thailand, Kenya and Mexico ( with a few hotels in other countries using them). They never worked. The science is rubbish. Gary Bolton is in prison for fraud. The Thai govt was the biggest buyer of these fake devices. They were being used to scan for explosives at the airports. The good Khunying endorsed them and indeed under her watch the Central Forensics Lab acquired some. Try to get some semblance of accuracy into your posts.

[Emptyset]

GT200 bomb detectors anyone?

Anek Yomchinda sign the deal to buy them and got rewarded by Thaksin.

So Anek Yomchinda signed a deal to buy them for the military under the 2006 junta, did he, and was rewarded for that? Or was he rewarded for buying them for the military in 2009 under the Abhisit govt? (Not that they had anything more to do with the purchase than Thaksin did).

[Neurath]

What possessed her to state the things worked -albeit only if you believe in them enough? Surely such a statement indicates a lack of understanding of empircal science and natural fact. Surely understanding these things is necessary precondition for work in forensic science. Of course she can still be a great and honorable person - even without an understanding of how science and natural law works. But such a statement should disqualify a person from holding such a position. Again, great an honorable person etc etc but not qualified for the job.

[Neurath]

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Always wondered about the bomb detector things for it wasn't just Thailand that was fooled into buying them but a fair part of the world as well.

There were Demos where police and armys in many parts of the world tested the things and found that they worked.

Could it be that the test batch did in fact work but when it came to delivery all the expensive guts had been removed and replaced with a few useless wires.

The gent who made, sold them has now been locked up for a long time after it being proved what he sold were fakes.

Nonsense. It was not "a fair part of the world". It was Thailand, Kenya and Mexico ( with a few hotels in other countries using them). They never worked. The science is rubbish. Gary Bolton is in prison for fraud. The Thai govt was the biggest buyer of these fake devices. They were being used to scan for explosives at the airports. The good Khunying endorsed them and indeed under her watch the Central Forensics Lab acquired some. Try to get some semblance of accuracy into your posts.

Iraq, you forgot Iraq.

[EyesWideOpen]

Oh ok. So the nepotism is starting.

Where is the nepotism in her re-appointment?

This is payback to her for her support of the infamous G2000 bomb detectors.

The generals were in hot water over the bomb detectors ( ok they looked like complete fools)

so they brought her in to support them. Up until then she had a great reputation.

So the question of the day back was how much did the generals have to pay

her to completely destroy her credibility...

She actually is very competent. She certainly should have been brought in to investigate

the spate of people who died at the Downtown Inn. But the local politicians there were

able to stop a full investigation and save the reputation of the wealthy

[Thai at Heart]

GT200 bomb detectors anyone?

I guess everyone makes mistakes.

Maybe she was having a bad hair day?

Every day

[Thai at Heart]

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Oh ok. So the nepotism is starting.

Huh? Is she a relative of Prayuth? Otherwise your comment doesn't make sense.

She is absolutely the Army's stooge. She stood front and square with them claiming that she had used the GT 2000 and that in her opinion they worked. She was responsible for creating reports using the GT 2000 that convicted various people of offences during the police crack down on the PAD. She is a sham.

Reinstating her has absolutely NOTHING to do with putting the proper person in position but is absolutely to do with repaying favours given.,

The whole point is you used the wrong word!

Nepotism specifically means appointing or giving advantage to direct members of your family.

It only refers to family - it doesn't mean just giving favours to people who support you .

Go read a dictionary if you want to argue.

Nepotism - the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or FRIENDS especially giving them jobs.

And that is front and centre on the first definition on Google.

I hate language Nazis. So the issue wasnt at all for using the wrong word and you get minus 2 house points for being a smart ass.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Thai at Heart

[Robby nz]

Always wondered about the bomb detector things for it wasn't just Thailand that was fooled into buying them but a fair part of the world as well.

There were Demos where police and armys in many parts of the world tested the things and found that they worked.

Could it be that the test batch did in fact work but when it came to delivery all the expensive guts had been removed and replaced with a few useless wires.

The gent who made, sold them has now been locked up for a long time after it being proved what he sold were fakes.

Yes this is extremely likely..... I am sure if he really had made ground breaking breakthrough he would of risked it all, by removing the 'expensive guts'!

The worst things is that this lady seemed to suggest that you could insert dead body 'sensor cards'! and despite when all the world realized they had been duped Khunying Porntip still thinks they work.

No wonder the army want her back! perhaps they are going to buy the remaining stock from the rest of the world.

For someone who seemingly has had a very distinguished career, it is a fairly odd blot on her resume why she has continued to stand by these sensors.

One word. Greed.

You should understand that as a fervent supporter of Thaksin and his proxy Government.

[casindonet]

Of course they do....she's a believer of the GT-200

Edited June 20, 2014 by casindonet

[djjamie]

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Huh? Is she a relative of Prayuth? Otherwise your comment doesn't make sense.

She is absolutely the Army's stooge. She stood front and square with them claiming that she had used the GT 2000 and that in her opinion they worked. She was responsible for creating reports using the GT 2000 that convicted various people of offences during the police crack down on the PAD. She is a sham.

Reinstating her has absolutely NOTHING to do with putting the proper person in position but is absolutely to do with repaying favours given.,

The whole point is you used the wrong word!

Nepotism specifically means appointing or giving advantage to direct members of your family.

It only refers to family - it doesn't mean just giving favours to people who support you .

Go read a dictionary if you want to argue.

Nepotism - the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or FRIENDS especially giving them jobs.

And that is front and centre on the first definition on Google.

I hate language Nazis. So the issue wasnt at all for using the wrong word and you get minus 2 house points for being a smart ass.

When one needs to explain the difference between nepotism (relatives) and cronyism (friends) to red apologists is it any surprise why the PTP are no longer in power?

<EDIT> In this case, Google is not your friend…..

Edited June 20, 2014 by djjamie

[Emster23]

What a load of dreck. If any of you were around for the tsunami and saw her work in collecting DNA samples, etc, you would not be spouting all this foolishness. She had to go up against some very powerful interests to get her job done. I don't recall, but I think she went head to head with army (they wanted to burn bodies in a hurry), perhaps was police. She is a capable doctor, speaks her mind and is from a different cut from most in government work.

Can anyone at all tell me what a forensic pathologist would have to do with those phoney bomb detectors? Has nothing to do with her job, unless autopsies of soldiers blown up because things didn't work.

Edited June 20, 2014 by Emster23

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

It's hard to understand.

She seems to have a good reputation as a competent forensic investigator, and one who wasn't intimidated by various influential parties.

But she also seemed utterly clueless in the whole mess over the bomb detectors. And you didn't need to be a forensic scientist to figure out that those were a big fraud.

How to reconcile the two different aspects, I don't know.

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Oh ok. So the nepotism is starting.

Huh? Is she a relative of Prayuth? Otherwise your comment doesn't make sense.

She is absolutely the Army's stooge. She stood front and square with them claiming that she had used the GT 2000 and that in her opinion they worked. She was responsible for creating reports using the GT 2000 that convicted various people of offences during the police crack down on the PAD. She is a sham.

Reinstating her has absolutely NOTHING to do with putting the proper person in position but is absolutely to do with repaying favours given.,