Wirote’ is confident that the stage to find the treasure of the Thai military will be a combination of plans to reform the commercial military from all angles. ‘Thanathorn’ sees it as a joint effort of the House Committee on Military Affairs and the House Committee on Transfers.
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, chairman of the Progressive Movement, and Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, MP for the Prachachon Party and chairman of the House of Representatives Military Affairs Committee, gave an interview before joining a seminar on the topic of ‘Searching for the Treasures of the Thai Army.’
Mr. Thanathorn said that the reform of the commercial army is part of the reform of the army that we have proposed since the Future Forward Party until the Move Forward Party. The Prachachon Party has not officially announced its policy yet, but it is confident that the Prachachon Party will continue to use the military reform policy that has been continuously implemented as the party policy. However, the important issue is the study
in the special committee to study the method of transferring the army’s business to an appropriate agency. This allows us to see the details of the commercial army, which we have been talking about all along, that the army has a lot of assets and many types of businesses, which leads to a tangible proposal to reform the commercial army.
When asked about the time when Mr. Settha Thavisin was the prime minister, did he go to make improvements? Is it the same approach as the Move Forward Party? Mr. Wiroj said that what the people want for the military transition is a clear transition period, when will it happen? For example, the transfer of military businesses. If we delve deeper into the transparency of the management of off-budget funds by the Ministry of Defense and the various armed forces, which today we are not sure if the accounting audit is up to standard or not, how much of the budget has been disclosed to the public. The excuse that is often given is that it is used for the welfare of lower-ranking of
ficers. We completely agree. But the question is, is it used to the fullest extent? Otherwise, it will always be an excuse, with society questioning why there are still problems with welfare for lower-ranking soldiers if there is off-budget money to support it. Therefore, in the matter of the Sena Panich, we have to look at both the transfer of funds in missions that are not directly related to the military, transparency, and spending according to the objectives, whether it is in line with the intention or not.
In the discussion on the topic of ‘Searching for the Treasure of the Thai Army,’ the important highlight today was the matter of the Commercial Affairs Department, which we often talk about. But this time, it was the most complete gathering of the Commercial Affairs Department from all sectors. It wasn’t just a golf course. Everything we’ve talked about in various forums was gathered together in this one forum, completely.
Mr. Thanathorn added that this work is considered a collaboration between the
Military Committee and the Transfer Committee, which he had the opportunity to work on as a committee member who attended each meeting. It comes from the people’s tax money, so we will do our best to gather information and suggestions for society for the public to see. In a way, today is considered a statement by the Transfer Committee, which has been working for the past 9 months, so the public can see what we have done, what we have studied, and what suggestions we have for society. I would like everyone to follow.
Source: Thai News Agency