PM Prayut tells Thai police to adhere to honesty and integrity in working

[BestBitterPhuket]

Without a total overhaul of the police, the so called reforms will be a an absolute fiasco.

[Local Drunk]

He really should have thought twice about saying that in the light of the Ko Tao fiasco. I can envisage him losing support rapidly if he is not more careful in what he says.

Agree... he isn't a savvy politician and I'll leave you with this thought. It took a military coup to clear the side walks so that people could actually enter and exit the BTS at Mo Chit. It works: but only because there are soldiers there.

As far as Koh Tao is concerned... I'll share my and my Thai wife's opinion; We hope it becomes a ghost town.

So that's what the coup was for, clearing the "sidewalks" at Mo Chit........................OK, but don't you think that was a bit excessive?.

I think that the salient point that I'm making is the difficulty of ridding the country of corruption and dealing with the police. Naturally, you missed it... It should be a very simple thing for the police to do, but it took the military to do it. Now why is that?

[Baerboxer]

^^^ What do you think the overthrow of your own government is, if not treason? Perhaps you are not a native speaker of English but that's just what treason means and unarguably that is what Prayuth (and others) did. Hence, he is guilty of treason. As for its being a capital crime, check article 113 of the legal code - using violence or the threat of violence to overthrow the government or to change the constitution is punishable by death. Perhaps you didn't know this but if so, you would be wise to keep your ignorance a little more in mind whilst you post.

This would applie to a decent honest government, democratically elected and democratically and transparent acting.

Overthrowing a government which is neither democratically elected (spare me the details, it was obvious) nor acting democratically in favour of the people

but only in favour of their own pockets

is not treason because it is in favour for the people and justice.

Don't have most if not all democracies come from some kind of "treason"?

French Revolution e.g.

Destroy what destroys you (or your country which includes you) is ethical.

I see I've met one of the forum high-flyers. Where did you do your doctoral work in SE Asian studies?

And where did you do yours? Same place you got your Thai law degree?

The Shin administration dissolved parliament and were in caretaker mode. They proved over several months they were incapable and/or unwilling to stop attacks and murders of their opponents. They acted illegally, breached parliamentary rules, and tried to sneak through an amnesty bill which outraged many sections of the Thai community. The situation was spiraling out of control and being inflamed by the caretaker government's treasonable incitement of civil unrest including "beating the war drum" meetings and calls for the establishment of their own republic. You can't carry out a peaceful coup unless the majority of the people are behind it.

So you'll be filing a criminal charge against the PM then? Good luck with that. Do let us know how you get on.

[BestBitterPhuket]

I think he knows that he is not going to have any effect, but as a matter of form, he has to say the words.

There is only one power greater than this PM and I well recall that person inducting a bunch of new entrants to the police force with a speech requesting that they display integrity and honesty in carrying out their duties.. If that individual has not had the desired effect, how will this guy?

I think the police know full well that the army needs them, even more than a simple civilian government elected by the people and having to face an election some day, needs them.. The army has guns, tanks, and stuff, but it doesn't have a big enough target to aim at. In reality, the police have to take care of day to day stuff and they'll do it as they please and in a way that's good for them.

We all know what recent case has proven the point. The PM will not go against the THAI police force and call on an independent overseas force. To do so would be to force his country to eat crow, and so he's stuck with what he's got. Pretty much a complete joke of a force.

I am very pessimistic about there being any change during my or my children's lifetimes.

They can only succeed by cutting the head of the beast, which mean replacing the whole central leadership in the police with outsiders (army and civilians), and do the same in every province. That should be step one. Any police leader who protests, should be investigated for corruption and other crimes and put away. It's the only way to start the process.

[fritzzz25]

The only way they will get rid of dishonest cops, is through an anti corruption campaign. Same way Serpico got it started in New York.

It is tough to see a fly "adhere" to fly tape, when there was no glue on it in the first place. How do you ask someone to be honest and have integrity, when their compensation is below the poverty line...... they have to be "on the take" or they starve.

[Zooheekock]

Oh really? When was the trial, must have missed that one.

Going to have to give that one a failing mark, I'm afraid. If I kill someone, I am guilty of murder, whether or not I stand trial for it. 'Guilty' can, in addition to meaning 'having committed or being responsible for a wrongful act', obviously also mean something like 'found to have committed an illegal act by a court of law' but it doesn't exclusively mean the latter so only 2/10 for your efforts. Sorry.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Zooheekock

[falangjim]

Sad looking sac. I wonder how his other fiction, the TV soap drama, is coming along.

Edited October 13, 2014 by falangjim

[trainman34014]

How about leading from the front and ordering the release of the two Burmese stooges stitched up for the recent murders, initiating the immediate arrest of the prime suspect and issuing an international arrest warrant for a certain family member hiding in Singapore to escape serious offence charges with regard to the killing of a Police Officer. The and only then can we believe that people are being treated ''Equally and Fairly ''.

[Zooheekock]

"They proved over several months they were incapable and/or unwilling to stop attacks and murders of their opponents."

Well, they tried far too hard to accommodate the PDRC and their attacks on democracy, that's true. As things turned out, the softy-softy approach was, whilst dignified, a disaster. How far the attacks on the PDRC were carried out by agents provocateurs is unclear, though there was certainly involvement of the military in the demonstrations. Of course, whether people have a right to agitate for the overthrow of a democratic government is seriously questionable. Democracies are under no obligation to tolerate open threats to their own existence and had it not been for the fact that the Thai courts have been entirely captured by sectional interests, the police would have been much better equipped to deal with things.

"They acted illegally, breached parliamentary rules, and tried to sneak through an amnesty bill which outraged many sections of the Thai community."

The amnesty bill was overturned by street protests. If anything, responsiveness to this kind of extra-parliamentary pressure is one indication of a government acting democratically. As for the illegality thing (I presume you mean the amendments to the senate), the court judgement was ludicrous, as was pretty widely recognized at the time.

"The situation was spiraling out of control and being inflamed by the caretaker government's treasonable incitement of civil unrest "

This is nonsense. Suthep and co, with the support of members of the current junta, were openly agitating for the violent overthrow of the government. In response, Yingluck was a model of restraint.

"including "beating the war drum" meetings and calls for the establishment of their own republic."

Utter rubbish. A couple of signs went up in the North and there were a few Facebook posts and the rest was the work of army PR and Prayuth's over-sized mouth.

"You can't carry out a peaceful coup unless the majority of the people are behind it."

You must be completely deranged even to even begin to claim that "the majority of the people are behind" the coup. Just utterly, utterly absurd. That's a fantastically stupid comment.

Plus, according to Suthep, plotting for the coup started with the army many years ago and, of course, there's the rather inconvenient fact that Anupong and Prawit were key supporters of the PDRC (key members of which are now playing their part in the disenfranchisement of the Thai people) so the idea that this was all just an unfortunate and unwanted response to events which had nothing to do with the army is a total fiction.

[rickirs]

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He really should have thought twice about saying that in the light of the Ko Tao fiasco. I can envisage him losing support rapidly if he is not more careful in what he says.

Agree... he isn't a savvy politician and I'll leave you with this thought. It took a military coup to clear the side walks so that people could actually enter and exit the BTS at Mo Chit. It works: but only because there are soldiers there.

As far as Koh Tao is concerned... I'll share my and my Thai wife's opinion; We hope it becomes a ghost town.

You don't have to overthrow the government and suspend the Constitution to clear sidewalks.

[rickirs]

Does this mean that General Prayuth will retact his promise of a reward to the police for apprehending the alleged killers in Koh Toa? After all, honesty and integrity should be their reward. Police should not work on a commission basis.

[DennisF]

Time for talking and micro management is gone.

The Kho Tao murders have changed he World perception of the Thai police and the Thai government.

Whilst his naive comments have been well documented and reported I do believe he is Thailands NONLY

hope right now.

He has to prove that with action and anything less than a complete overhaul of the BiB just will not

be good enough.

[Borzandy]

"encouraged the police to work with honesty and integrity and to ensure that the people will be treated fairly and equally." please, could you explain, is it mean before it was not like that.

[Zooheekock]

Prayuth, and the junta generally, are there to preserve the status quo, to at least partly disenfranchise the population, and to manage whatever changes may be soon be here in the terms of state arrangements. They're just not really that interested in all this other stuff. Sure, Prayuth will mouth off about how this or that is a problem and before everyone forgets what the problem du jour is, some mildly reformist moves may be made but one of the primary interests of these guys is in having a strong, top-down state which is able to keep everyone in their place and that requires the police so they're not about to do anything too dramatic.

[Thanet]

Just a phantasy:

Army acts

mass arrest of police officers all over Thailand

The people applaud frenetic

Only few left to do police work under continuos scrutiny of the military

In every police station 3 soldiers on every policeman

Foreign police asked for help to train new integer police officers

....

Oh, oh .... just woke up and the headache is back, too

Change whatever it is that you are smoking please

[DennisF]

Prayuth, and the junta generally, are there to preserve the status quo, to at least partly disenfranchise the population, and to manage whatever changes may be soon be here in the terms of state arrangements. They're just not really that interested in all this other stuff. Sure, Prayuth will mouth off about how this or that is a problem and before everyone forgets what the problem du jour is, some mildly reformist moves may be made but one of the primary interests of these guys is in having a strong, top-down state which is able to keep everyone in their place and that requires the police so they're not about to do anything too dramatic.

Sadly, this is probably the reality.

[lvr181]

Prayuth is guilty of treason, a capital crime. He is not really in a position to preach about integrity.

Yet another critic without a reasonable workable alternative!

[GAZZPA]

Honesty, Integrity, Fairly, EQUALLY! Can someone please wake him up.

[outsider]

"As ASEAN Economic Community is coming into effect next year, the commissioner said it would expect broader work for the police." What broader work... more tea money from unsuspecting foreigners?

Honesty and integrity and the RTP...

[tingtongfarang]

The only way they will get rid of dishonest cops, is through an anti corruption campaign. Same way Serpico got it started in New York.

It is tough to see a fly "adhere" to fly tape, when there was no glue on it in the first place. How do you ask someone to be honest and have integrity, when their compensation is below the poverty line...... they have to be "on the take" or they starve.

If the pm,s intentions are honorable he knows full well that his achillies heel will always be the RTP,

I scoff when posters here suggest a salery increase, why do some think that a few extra thousand baht per month would make hardened criminals decide to change their ways?

By default the RTP attracts such criminals even to the point of paying their way through exams or being accepted into the force, then it goes on as they go up the ladder paying for promotion, they have no interest or intentions of enforcing laws and never will,

The new pm knows the only way to solve this problem is to disband the RTP and start again with stronger laws and heavy sentences for acts of corruption/ bribe taking,

Its the thai way not to talk of such acts but it is on their minds and the RTP know this also.

Edited October 13, 2014 by tingtongfarang

[MobileContent]

May I suggest Gen Prayuth to get some advise from the Singapore Police Force.

If you bribe in Singapore a police officer both the one that puts up the bribe and the pilce that will receive the bribe will be put in jail.

Remove Police Day from the calendar until the police is ready to behave like police.

[love1012]

^^^ What do you think the overthrow of your own government is, if not treason? Perhaps you are not a native speaker of English but that's just what treason means and unarguably that is what Prayuth (and others) did. Hence, he is guilty of treason. As for its being a capital crime, check article 113 of the legal code - using violence or the threat of violence to overthrow the government or to change the constitution is punishable by death. Perhaps you didn't know this but if so, you would be wise to keep your ignorance a little more in mind whilst you post.

Thaksin and Yingluk tried for treason first for murder, theft and corruption - your the imbecile clearly!!!

[love1012]

^^^ What do you think the overthrow of your own government is, if not treason? Perhaps you are not a native speaker of English but that's just what treason means and unarguably that is what Prayuth (and others) did. Hence, he is guilty of treason. As for its being a capital crime, check article 113 of the legal code - using violence or the threat of violence to overthrow the government or to change the constitution is punishable by death. Perhaps you didn't know this but if so, you would be wise to keep your ignorance a little more in mind whilst you post.

This would applie to a decent honest government, democratically elected and democratically and transparent acting.

Overthrowing a government which is neither democratically elected (spare me the details, it was obvious) nor acting democratically in favour of the people

but only in favour of their own pockets

is not treason because it is in favour for the people and justice.

Don't have most if not all democracies come from some kind of "treason"?

French Revolution e.g.

Destroy what destroys you (or your country which includes you) is ethical.

I see I've met one of the forum high-flyers. Where did you do your doctoral work in SE Asian studies?

Which 7/11 do you stack shelves?

[MobileContent]

^^^ What do you think the overthrow of your own government is, if not treason? Perhaps you are not a native speaker of English but that's just what treason means and unarguably that is what Prayuth (and others) did. Hence, he is guilty of treason. As for its being a capital crime, check article 113 of the legal code - using violence or the threat of violence to overthrow the government or to change the constitution is punishable by death. Perhaps you didn't know this but if so, you would be wise to keep your ignorance a little more in mind whilst you post.

Check again yourself... article 113 excludes the armed forces from this law.

Do you have a link which confirms this? It seems I'm not allowed to quote the text itself, but the criminal code does not say that.

Very much possible but as always in the past of any JUNTA their will be an amnesty bill tabled and signed that they can't be prosecuted for the coup.

[love1012]

Prayuth, and the junta generally, are there to preserve the status quo, to at least partly disenfranchise the population, and to manage whatever changes may be soon be here in the terms of state arrangements. They're just not really that interested in all this other stuff. Sure, Prayuth will mouth off about how this or that is a problem and before everyone forgets what the problem du jour is, some mildly reformist moves may be made but one of the primary interests of these guys is in having a strong, top-down state which is able to keep everyone in their place and that requires the police so they're not about to do anything too dramatic.

Sadly, this is probably the reality.

where as Thaksin Shinawatras all about being able to co,me back and steal another 40 billion baht and start another drug war to kill another 1500 of his political opponents - you have no solution - nothing to offer except criticism of what is the best of a set of bad alternatives - crawl back into the woodwork please!!

[casindonet]

Look at the photo....dear general is trying hard not to laugh when giving the advise

[sweatalot]

The only way they will get rid of dishonest cops, is through an anti corruption campaign. Same way Serpico got it started in New York.

It is tough to see a fly "adhere" to fly tape, when there was no glue on it in the first place. How do you ask someone to be honest and have integrity, when their compensation is below the poverty line...... they have to be "on the take" or they starve.

If the pm,s intentions are honorable he knows full well that his achillies heel will always be the RTP,

I scoff when posters here suggest a salery increase, why do some think that a few extra thousand baht per month would make hardened criminals decide to change their ways?

By default the RTP attracts such criminals even to the point of paying their way through exams or being accepted into the force, then it goes on as they go up the ladder paying for promotion, they have no interest or intentions of enforcing laws and never will,

The new pm knows the only way to solve this problem is to disband the RTP and start again with stronger laws and heavy sentences for acts of corruption/ bribe taking,

Its the thai way not to talk of such acts but it is on their minds and the RTP know this also.

Hope you are right

[Zooheekock]

Yet another critic without a reasonable workable alternative!

you have no solution

I have plenty of ideas, none of which (for obvious reasons) I have bothered to repeat here but, if it makes you happy, and it's certainly in keeping with the bovine stupidity endemic on this forum, you go right ahead and imagine whatever you like about me.

[tingtongfarang]

The only way they will get rid of dishonest cops, is through an anti corruption campaign. Same way Serpico got it started in New York.

It is tough to see a fly "adhere" to fly tape, when there was no glue on it in the first place. How do you ask someone to be honest and have integrity, when their compensation is below the poverty line...... they have to be "on the take" or they starve.

If the pm,s intentions are honorable he knows full well that his achillies heel will always be the RTP,

I scoff when posters here suggest a salery increase, why do some think that a few extra thousand baht per month would make hardened criminals decide to change their ways?

By default the RTP attracts such criminals even to the point of paying their way through exams or being accepted into the force, then it goes on as they go up the ladder paying for promotion, they have no interest or intentions of enforcing laws and never will,

The new pm knows the only way to solve this problem is to disband the RTP and start again with stronger laws and heavy sentences for acts of corruption/ bribe taking,

Its the thai way not to talk of such acts but it is on their minds and the RTP know this also.

Hope you are right

Better pray also if you have any imaginary friends, if this pm does,nt take the bull by the horns i,m afraid we just go round in circles till the next coup.

[bongoz]

"ensure that the people will be treated fairly and equally"

200 Baht fine is fair and will be equally 'requested' of expats and tourists...