Thai minister conferred Singapore’s top military award



SINGAPORE: -- President Tony Tan Keng Yam conferred Thailand's Minister of Labour and former permanent secretary for defence, Gen Sirichai Distakul, Singapore's highest military award on Thursday, Channel News Asia reported.

According to the Ministry of Defence’s release, Gen Sirichai was conferred the award for his significant contributions in enhancing the excellent defence ties between Singapore and Thailand during his tenure as permanent secretary of defence from October 2014 to October 2015.

Under his leadership, both defence establishments interacted frequently through regular high-level visits, professional exchanges and military exercises, it added.

Gen Sirichai strengthened bilateral defence cooperation, such as through Thailand’s accreditation of a Liaison Officer to the Changi Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Coordination Centre.

The investiture ceremony was also attended by Senior Minister of State for Defence Ong Ye Kung, Permanent Secretary for Defence Chan Yeng Kit and senior government officials and military officers from both countries.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/thai-minister-conferred-singapores-top-military-award


-- Thai PBS 2015-10-16

Good to know that our Labour Minister is pulling in awards for promoting workers' rights military achievements.

So he's the one responsible for the deal that brings the Singapore Armed Forces' jets to Udon Thani airport so they can scream over my house a couple of times a day !

Being serious, the deal has been in place for years and must be quite lucrative but govt after govt refuses to disclose what Singapore pays for access.