Bully tactics typical of military worldview

To ACM Sukumpol, it’s “my way or the highway”. None of this nonsense of using logic to persuade – it’s “might makes right”. Sukumpol is correct when he says his order streamlines the ministry’s work: just one person thinks, the others obey, robot-like. No wonder we have the tragedies of Krue Se, Tak Bai and Nong Chik, for no soldier on the scene dared question if there was use of excessive force, if people bound hand and foot and stacked like logs might suffocate, or if those being targeted might be peaceful and unarmed.

Second, job-relevant key performance indicators are irrelevant to promotion in the Thai military, for neither Sukhumpol nor those opposing him justified their choice in terms of ability to do the job. Instead, we heard of seniority, not achievements – and loyalty to persons/parties, as if they were the Schutzstaffel or other personal bodyguard.

We are ill served by those who view themselves as our masters, for “Power comes from the barrel of a gun”, as Mao Zedong put it. But which leader has the moral courage to bell the cat?

Burin Kantabutra

Bangkok