Sonthi says more coups possible unless charter states military role

[dirtydog]

Sonthi says more coups possible unless charter states military role

Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin, chairman of the Council for National Security, Saturday indicated that more coups could happen in the future because the new draft constitution did not state the military role.

Giving a speech at the fair to promote democrachy, Sonthi said the military role should be stated clearly in the constitution.

He said the new draft constitution and the 1997 constitution did not mention the military role at all.

He said if the military role was stated in the charter, it could prevent a coup.

He said some political parties in the past tried to suppress the military role, prompting the military to vent out by staging coups.

The Nation

[buad hai]

The Post story is a little more telling:

Armed forces need clear role in politics
CNS: It's the only way to prevent coups

By Anucha Charoenpo


The only way to ensure that future democratic governments are not ousted by military coups is to give the armed forces a clear role in politics, a senior army officer said yesterday.

Soldiers must be allowed to participate in politics, otherwise "the country cannot escape from coups," said Phasit Sonthikhan, who was representing Council for National Security (CNS) deputy secretary-general Saprang Kalayanamitr at a forum on soldiers and democracy yesterday.

Gen Phasit, deputy director of the CNS Secretary Office, cited examples of the political roles assumed by the armed forces in Burma and some African countries. He said the military was permitted to play a role in politics to prevent it from staging coups.

"It's the way out for their soldiers," he said.

He defended the coup last year, saying political interference in the army over the past five years by a "big political party" had led to the decision to oust the previous government.

He did not mention the party by name but it was clearly a reference to the ruling Thai Rak Thai party run by then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The party disliked the army which was unfairly treated, he said, adding the party intervened in the army's budget spending and its military reshuffles.

The seniority system and the line of command were ignored, and at the same time nepotism and discrimination caused division within the army, he said.

Many unqualified soldiers were promoted to higher positions just because of their close ties with government ministers and their spouses, he said.

However, Gen Phasit gave assurances that this year's annual military reshuffle would be fair because the top brass would take serious action against any soldiers who used personal connections to get themselves promoted.

Key positions in the next reshuffle include the army chief, as Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, who is also the CNS chairman, will retire at the end of Sept. Gen Saprang, who is currently the assistant army chief, is a strong candidate to succeed him.

Gen Phasit refused to say whether the coup leader would contest the next election, saying the public should not treat the issue too seriously. "I don't know whether he will run in the election or not. It is his personal right as he will retire in the next two months," he said.

It's as if the military really believes it has a right to exist independent of civilian control and national will and that as an independent entity it has a right to intervene in civilian affairs. I find this to be more than a little distrubing.

[Dougal]

Thank you for posting that. This is not so much a Kafkaesque scenario as Alice in Wonderland.

Citing Burma as a role model for democratic government simply beggars belief.

There are probably generals in the armed forces of UK, USA et al who cherish similar ideas but realise that uttering them is likely to terminate their careers.

[Panda]

The Thai military autocrats sure have a funny interpretation of democracy .

If they want to join politics perhaps they should be elected to their positions by the people and be responsible for their actions.

[sabang]

In a functioning democratic system, armed forces and police should not play an active role in politics.
However neither should Politicians play an active role within the uniformed services, other than at a policy level. The cronyism and meddling of the Thaksin administration caused a lot of disgruntlement, especially in the Armed Forces. His clear preference of the Police over the Army also- he was of course ex police himself.

[Panda]

In a functioning democratic system, armed forces and police should not play an active role in politics.
However neither should Politicians play an active role within the uniformed services, other than at a policy level. The cronyism and meddling of the Thaksin administration caused a lot of disgruntlement, especially in the Armed Forces. His clear preference of the Police over the Army also- he was of course ex police himself.

Well then let them be disgruntled. It is the militaries job to take orders from the government, not the other way round.
In a true democracy political control over the military is essential. When an unelected military controls the politics it can not be called a democracy. The fundamentals of a democracy are the separation of powers. That is the courts, the parliament, the police, must all have separate and well defined powers.

When the military start taking over the role of the police in civil society the whole democratic process starts to break down as we have seen many times in Thailand.

[keda]

As in civilised nations worldwide the military role here should be clear enough, to protect and defend the government and offices of state, its territory and its people. Sadly it seems Thailand urgently needs to be protected from its protectors.

[sabang]

Calls for Thailand to become a 'true western style democracy' whilst perhaps laudable, ain't gonna happen overnight.
The military has been the ultimate arbiter since WW2 and before. Twelve coups or so, from memory.
Civilian politicians have been mainly corrupt, not to mention the judiciary, government administration, police and military.
We are quite a long way from a functioning democracy.

[keda]

Plobrem is Western politicians are besotted with their infallible selves, and like to play with impractical and unrealistic though high falutin principles that simply do not and in most cases cannot be applied to the rest of the world.

Blame nature, culture, tradition, history or something else, not me, because people and nations are far from equal, plain and simple, and with this in mind to have the same expectations of a 3rd World country as one does for a successful Western democracy is most generously deceitful and irresponsible. We see it daily, at street level.

Thailand has had opportunities to get its act together and place its military a striking second to democratically elected governments. In this respect Sonthi is doing his country no favours at all by threatening the likelihood of more of the same, and if he gets away with it as he probably will, history has no choice but to keep repeating itself until the stubbornly ignorant masses wake up to what is happening in the corridors and bedrooms of power.

Then we'll see some real blood, because it'll be yet another monstrous fcukup, so on second thoughts prolly better to keep things as they are.

[sabang]

Well, after all of fourteen months here, I am convinced that those stubbornly ignorant masses are also kept that way by a mutual if unspoken complicity by those that aren't.
Yet another impediment to a truly democratic system I guess.

[blackgang]

Some very good stuff has been posted here.
I am also a believer that the military and the politicos should be separated.

The military has no place in politics, and the politicos should leave the military alone.

That dudes reference to the military in Burma was a laugh, maybe a typo, surely no one in his right mind would use them as a reference unless it was to keep the military separate.

Do have a lot of bananas here tho, maybe it is a banana republic now..

[Panda]

Calls for Thailand to become a 'true western style democracy' whilst perhaps laudable, ain't gonna happen overnight.
The military has been the ultimate arbiter since WW2 and before. Twelve coups or so, from memory.
Civilian politicians have been mainly corrupt, not to mention the judiciary, government administration, police and military.
We are quite a long way from a functioning democracy.

I have to agree with you. And most Thais, particularly the peasant class seem to accept the situation. I suppose they dont have much choice though.

[Marmite the Dog]

I think the present dictatorship is working just as well (if not better) as the previous democratic government. It may be a surprise to some that not all countries are ready for a democratic government, and some don't want a western style democratic government (thinking of Russia here). The main problem is when one of these un-elected governments gets too big for its boots and starts doing all kinds of stupid shit such as Zimbabwe, Venezuela & Cambodia.

Even in countries who are generally held up as bastions of democracy, it seems that democracy is working as well as they would like us to believe.

[Panda]

Venezuela is an elected democracy supported by an overwhelming majority of voters. Unlike the USA where Bush originally got into power under some very dodgy technicalities.

[Marmite the Dog]

Venezuela is an elected democracy supported by an overwhelming majority of voters.

Initially, yes.