Online campaign tells Prawit to resign over cadet remarks

AN ONLINE campaign has taken off with the clear objective of pressuring Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwon to step down over his offhand comments about the death of a cadet that has seized national headlines. 
The campaign founder is prominent figure Thicha Nanakorn, the long-serving director of Ban Kanchanapisek Vocational Juvenile Training Centre for Boys, former charter drafter and former member of the National Reform Council. 
“Prawit should resign to take responsibility for what he said about the death of cadet Phakhapong Tanyakan, or ‘Meay’,” Thicha wrote on Change.org. 
She started an online signature campaign on Sunday and promoted the petition on Facebook, with more than 1,400 people having signed their names in support of her petition as of press time yesterday. 
Phakhapong, an 18-year-old student at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School (AFAPS), died in suspicious circumstances at the academy on October 17. 
His family broke their silence last month to demand a transparent investigation into his death after the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) told them that some of Phakhapong’s organs had been removed in an earlier autopsy at a military-run hospital. 
The case has caught the national spotlight with members of the public questioning whether the teenager might have been killed by excessive corporal punishment.
Prawit responded to the scandal with the suggestion that Phakhapong had died because of his own health problems, but he also suggested that hard training and corporal punishment were common for cadets. 
He said he had lost consciousness when he was punished at the AFAPS as a cadet but he had survived.
His interview drew overwhelming negative feedback, prompting him to apologise soon thereafter.
However, Thicha apparently believed the apology was insufficient and started the online petition to pressure him to resign. 
“When giving the interview, he did not pay attention to the facts or feelings of the family who had lost their beloved son at all,” she said. 
An unidentified supporter of the campaign said he had never seen Prawit show signs of empathy for any other human being. 
Thicha said the results of the autopsy on Phakhapong’s body confirmed that he had not died because of poor health but instead had been abused. 
Phakhapong’s family, meanwhile, has not fully released the findings from the CIFS autopsy. After receiving the results, the family held a cremation ceremony for Phakhapong at the weekend. 
Many people have come forward to show sympathy for the family. 
About 80,000 people have already signed an online petition under the theme “Justice for Meay”. 
The petition, which was launched three weeks ago, intends to stop inappropriate practices at the AFAPS and involving military units. 
The petition demands that the military investigate every official involved in Phakhapong’s death and release the findings to the public. 
Also, the petition states that members of independent agencies such as the National Human Rights Commission should be included on the investigation panel to prevent conflicts of interest, adding that doubts would linger if the investigation is handled only by military officers. 
“After the investigation is complete, those found guilty should resign and face both civil and criminal proceedings,” the statement added. 
It said neither nepotism nor leniency should be allowed. 
In a related development, ACM Chawarat Marungruang – the chair of a fact-finding committee established by Armed Forces Supreme Commander Thanchaiyan Srisuwan – said his panel would conclude its work by Friday.
So far, Chawarat said his committee was simply focusing on what had happened and who was involved. 
“We cannot tell what caused Phakhapong’s death,” he said. 
However, he added that Phakhapong’s family could rest assured that his committee would present unbiased facts. “We will chronicle what happened and tell what actions were right or wrong,” he said.