Thai Military Commission’s six-point plan to scrutinize budget and troop size

Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, a member of the Future Forward Party and chairman of the Military Commission, revealed a six-pronged policy framework for the Military Commission of the House of Representatives, aimed at scrutinising the military budget and streamlining troop size.

According to a Facebook post by Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, the Military Commission of the House of Representatives convened a meeting yesterday, at 1pm, where it established a policy framework for joint operations covering the military budget, debt obligations, business welfare, off-budget funds, resource allocation between the military and civilians, and downsizing of the military, welfare, and welfare of standard and junior soldiers. This policy framework was summarised into six areas:

1. Monitoring and auditing the budget, debt obligations, procurement of the military and the Ministry of Defence, business welfare, commerce, and off-budget funds to ensure transparency, free from corruption, and public disclosure. Economical Defence is used as a guideline for monitoring government policies to ensure that investment and budget expenditure is in line with the country’s security in a new format that positively impacts the economy and quality of life of the people. For example:

• Offsetting policy in procurement.
• Transfer of military land ownership to the government to allocate to farmers or for public benefit. Managing military areas to solve problems for the people such as solving water storage to alleviate flood problems, waste management, and producing electricity from renewable energy from sunlight, biomass or wind.
• Spearheading prevention and suppression of drugs, smuggling of illegal goods, human trafficking and illegal oil. Using off-budget military funds to invest in research related to the country’s security in a new format.

2. Creating networks and expanding working groups in various regions across the country to monitor and audit resource allocation between the military and civilians to be fair, reconciling good relations between people and the military, and developing channels for receiving complaints about military problems that are comprehensive and more efficient.

3. Monitoring and auditing to make the military the right size, having a suitable number of senior officers and regular soldiers for the military mission, free from using troops for labour that is not a military mission or used in jobs that are considered human trafficking or human rights violations.

4. Monitoring and caring for the well-being and welfare of military officials, junior military officials, regular soldiers, and war veterans to be transparent, fair, and free from torture, oppression, taking advantage, and human rights violations.

5. Monitoring the performance of the military under the supervision of the civilian government and the principle of civil law. Civilians and soldiers are equal before the law and under the same fair process. No military operations affect the rights and freedoms of the people.

6. Studying approaches to improve the curriculum of military preparatory schools, troop schools, and institutions under the Ministry of Defence to match social changes.

The Military Commission will use all six of these guidelines to perform its duties to the best of its ability so that the military’s duties are performed with integrity, and transparency in spending taxpayer’s money, and it must be a military under the command of a civilian government, reported Sanook.

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