[Tlc] T-military

[justinm at ucr.edu]

Forwarded from Al Valentine.
Thanks,
justin


http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/8658/choosing-prawit-cements-military%27s-strength

Choosing Prawit cements military's strength

    By: Wassana Nanuam
    Published: 25/12/2008 at 12:00 AM

The naming of Gen Prawit Wongsuwan as defence minister is a timely move to enhance the strength of the top commanders of the army.
Gen Prawit's candidacy for defence minister was almost uncontested. The Democrats, however, were rumoured to have had help from inside the barracks - those who, with a tinge of militaristic sternness, coaxed and cajoled politicians into pulling the plug on the dissolved People Power party-led alliance and regrouping under the Democrat bloc.
The surprise is that the intermediary who reportedly arranged the latest marriage of convenience, decried by PPP core members as a "concealed coup", is the general who has so far resisted staging a military revolt.
Army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda makes the cut for the list of kingmakers, despite his rigorous insistence that he is an observer, not a player, in the political arena.
Gen Anupong and Gen Prawit are no strangers to each other and their ties go back many years. Gen Prawit was Gen Anupong's superior at the Queen's royal guards unit and they shared a military base house. They climbed to the apex of the military echelon, one not far behind the other.
After Gen Prawit took the army chief post, he signed the promotion of Gen Anupong and Army chief-of-staff Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha during a military reshuffle. The generals are thus wrapped in fraternity and gratitude.
Gen Prawit reportedly sat at the same table where the military top brass and political parties discussed the government's formation.
An interesting observation has been made of Gen Prawit, who never fell from favour with past governments. In fact, he had been tipped to be among the likely choices for defence minister during the Thaksin administrations as well as in the military-installed Surayud Chulanont government. Even when the People Power party made it to government, bets were also placed on Gen Prawit being offered the defence portfolio.
As the government blueprint was taking shape, Democrat secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban declared Gen Prawit to be the party's preference for defence minister, to Gen Anupong's unreserved approval. Mr Suthep soon hand-delivered the Democrat's invitation to Gen Prawit to join the new cabinet.
Gen Prawit is immediately affixed with the label of a cabinet minister under the "discreet military quota" granted in a gesture of "appreciation" of Gen Anupong's alleged patronage that was attributable to the turning of the political tide.
Despite Gen Prawit's disassociation with the Sept 19, 2006 coup engineered by the Council of National Security (CNS), which counted Gen Anupong as one of its key movers, the defence minister is seen as having been swept into office by the "muscle" of the former CNS leaders. There is no doubt that Gen Prawit has retained his ties with his armed forces cadet classmates who ran the CNS, namely the retired Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, the council chairman, former defence permanent secretary Gen Winai Phattiyakul and former air force chief ACM Chalit Phukphasuk.
Gen Prawit's cabinet appointment has spurred some public interest in the CNS, which has ceased to exist, amid reports of the CNS classmates pondering the establishment of a political party. A number of classmates will assist Gen Prawit at the Defence Ministry.
The timing of Gen Prawit's cabinet entry is particularly strategic. It works to secure the positions of Gen Anupong and Gen Prayuth in the army as the generals and Gen Prawit are likely to speak the same language on defence matters.
By opting for Gen Prawit as defence minister, the Democrats have achieved a few things in a single move. The ruling party needs the army on its side and this security could be ascertained with Gen Prawit hooking up with Gen Anupong.
Nonetheless, having the commanders united in a tightly-bound army could make it difficult for the government to resist the military's demand for such deals as weapons procurement.
When the united military speaks, the government must listen.
Power, after all, is always a double-edged sword.
______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu