Widows fight order to repay pension

More than 70 widows sought help from the Lawyers Council of Thailand yesterday over a move by the government to take back a military-compensation pension associated with their late husbands, all of who were killed while serving in the police or armed forces.
The pensions have paid to the widows’ bank accounts for a long time – in some cases for a few decades. But earlier this year, the Comptroller-General’s Department suddenly informed them they were not eligible for this compensation and must return the amount plus 7.5-per-cent interest.
“Is the government fair? Our husbands died on duty,” Pol Senior Sgt Major Natthakul Nattapicha said yesterday. She asked if the government gave higher payouts to victims in other cases.
The current government has approved generous compensation to victims of recent political riots.
Natthakul said the Comptroller-General’s Department demanded Bt299,000 plus interest from her.
“It said I could repay later but must sign acknowledgement of the debt,” she lamented.
Natthakul said she was one of 658 widows who joined hands to fight the move by the Comptroller-General. The department has demanded that each must pay back sums ranging from Bt100,000 to Bt800,000.
“How can we have this huge amount of money available for return?” Natthakul asked. Her husband died in 1989.
Pol Major Pojanee Payak said she also got this type of pension, without asking.
“I had heard that if I asked to get a police job upon my husband’s death, I might not receive this military-compensation pension. But as I saw the amount coming to my account, I thought I was eligible for it,” she said.
Lawyers Council president Sak Korsaengruang said the council would look into the complaint filed by the widows and determine if there were grounds to say they had been treated unfairly.
He said the council would also try to determine if the Comptroller-General’s Department had made a mistake in wiring the military-compensation to the widows’ bank accounts. “From the information available, it’s not the fault of the widows,” he said.
The husbands of most these widows died in border provinces. Security officials in the deep South, in particular, are often targets of attacks – which continue to occur.
Last Saturday, a car bomb was set off in front of a policewoman’s home unit in Narathiwat. Together with two other bombs, three people were killed and 16 others injured on that day. Ongoing inquiries suggest the attackers were linked to Abdul Hassan, who staged a car-bomb attack in Narathiwat’s Rueso district on October 20.
Meanwhile, unrest in the deep South has also hurt local temples. The Religious Affairs Department says 175 temples in five southern border provinces have not been able to find sponsors for Krathin merit-making ceremonies this year.
Department head Preecha Kantiya said yesterday that HM Queen Sirikit had decided to grant monks’ robes for the Krathin there.