Brawling students may face military service

THE National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) is considering disqualifying young brawlers from any exemption from conscription in a novel measure designed to end the long history of bloody and often deadly brawls between students.

Last Monday, a female student from a vocational school was gunned down in front of a hospital in Bangkok where she visited a friend who had been shot and injured earlier. 

Student brawls are common in Bangkok and its adjacent provinces. Reports show that many students use violence because of the sense of rivalry among various institutes, usually vocational schools or colleges. Often, there is no personal motive in such acts. 

“Our idea is that if students engage in brawling, they will be blacklisted. Then, they will definitely have to become conscripts,” Colonel Piyapong Klinpan, a spokesperson for the NCPO, said yesterday.

He was speaking after emerging from a meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan. According to Piyapong, relevant authorities are now in the process of studying the legality and appropriateness of the idea.

He explained that if the idea goes ahead, brawling students would be blacklisted. Once they are called to conscription, they would not be able to claim any exemption, not even to the draw that determines the luck of many young men their age. 

Normally, young men who are called to conscription get a chance at a draw when the number of young men on the conscription roster in their area exceeds the number of conscripts needed. 

This year over 350,000 men who turned 21 were called to conscription. About 100,000 were drafted into the Army, Navy and Air Force.

The NCPO has toughened up to try to curb a renewed spurt of student brawls. 

Just last month, NCPO chief General Prayut Chan-o-cha evoked his special power under Article 44 of the interim constitution in passing an order forcing the parents or guardians of brawling students to face punishment too. The measure aims to ensure that they try harder to prevent children or grandchildren from going astray – and at reminding all aggressive students to think twice before resorting to |violence. 

Police have been taking action against the parents of the two minors who allegedly killed the female vocational student last week. 

But National Human Rights Commissioner Angkhana Neelapaijit yesterday cautioned against blacklisting students caught brawling so that they are made to serve in the Armed forces. 

“It’s not a solution. In my opinion, it will only aggravate problems. These youths are violence-prone. Won’t they become more aggressive if they become familiar with weapons?” she warned. 

She also noted that the idea, if implemented, was a violation of a person’s human rights. If the NCPO put the plan into action, any youths affected could lodge a petition to courts for legal protection. 

Angkhana said she also disagreed with the NCPO’s move to hold parents responsible for the crimes their children commit. 

“Don’t blame their family. It’s necessary that all sides join hands in solving the problem that has dragged on for a long time already,” she said. 

In a related development, police and the Ruam Duay Chuay Kan centre announced they would work together to watch over society. 

“The first mission under this collaboration is to help prevent or reduce student brawls,” National Police Office’s top adviser Pol General Panya Mamen said. 

Under the arrangement, more than 4,500 volunteer patrolmen and women of Ruam Duay Chuay Kan will watch for suspicious or harmful activities and alert police.