Military denies any wrongdoing
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Bangkok Post
The pro-Thaksin website www.hi-thaksin.org has published an article attacking the Council for National Security (CNS) and exposing what it calls a ''secret budget'' for mobilising mass support for the coupmakers. The unnamed author of the article claims to have received documents detailing a budget and plans to deploy forces of the First Army Region under the command of Prayuth Chan-ocha.
The article claims that the First Army Region plans to monitor and handle ''suspicious activities'' in Bangkok and other central provinces to prevent unrest.
A total of 319.1 million baht has been allocated for the operations, it said.
Some 64.9 million baht is earmarked for Bangkok, with operations in small communities in the capital receiving funding of 35,000 baht, the article claims.
It goes on to say that over 212.3 million baht will be spent in the central provinces, with 13,000 baht to be given to each village and 41.9 million baht set aside for management and other costs.
''The money is a special army budget which the CNS requested from the government. It is for gathering intelligence and pre-empting the efforts of the old power clique,'' the article claimed.
The author said the money was no different than a secret budget, since there are no avenues for it to be scrutinised.
The article also stressed that the money would be used for marshalling mass support for CNS chairman Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, which is an imitation of political canvassing by politicians.
However, Lt-Gen Prayuth shrugged off the claims made on the website. He said he had acted in line with army policy.
This article is disturbing on so many different levels.
1. It disturbs me that Hi-Thaksin.org has to do the job of the Thai media. Thai journalists are lazy and incompetent, no doubt, but they should at least verify the story instead of just regurgitating the information of a pro-Thaksin website.
2. The story is probably true, however, because the army didn't deny it.
3. If this story is true, then that means the army is using the taxpayer's money to spy on people who have not committed any crimes or not suspected of committing any crimes.
4. It is using the tax payer's money to bribe people into mobilization in order to do what, exactly?
5. With all the problems in the South, one would think the army would use its money to deal with an actual terrorism problem in the South rather than a potential Thaksin supporter problem that has no signs of materializing.
In other words, the army doesn't do anything to end the violence in the South, yet puts it resources into solving non-violent political problems that are within the bounds of the law.
6. There is also a gestapo element to this whole operation that doesn't sit well with me. Why are Thais in the central region being treated as enemies of the state when they have done nothing wrong?
3 comments:
But there already is a secret army unit focused on preventing demonstrations and the return of Thaksin. The news came out late last year - it's headed by Saprang, had 14,000 men, and over half a billion baht in unscrutinised funding.
Is this new thing part of Saprang unit, or a new unit under Prayuth's sole command?
Fonzi said: "....using the taxpayer's money to spy on people who have not committed any crimes or not suspected of committing any crimes"
Something like that would never happen in the USA, right?
"Such operations need expenses and allowances to run, he said, adding they were intended to serve communities, not seek political gain."
Also agreeing on Hobbys notion, and in general security has been long main focus of ASEAN countries, and this kind of funds to keep the insurgents down etc are quite in line with I would expect from countries under the danger of violent political unrest. And keeping taps on internal security issues is nothing too alarming. The alarm would ofcourse come if these bahts were used to seek political gain, or spy on the behalf of politicians! But as everyone knows this is slippery slope, this spying on your own ppl. USA, some countries in European Union, are all good bad examples of this.
-Mike
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