People’s Party vows to end conscription, roll out volunteer soldier system
People’s Party says it will scrap draft, cut annual intake from 130,000 to 119,000, recruit at least 30,000 volunteers a year on four-year contracts, and raise pay and welfare while tightening protections against abuse in camps.
- The People's Party has announced a policy to abolish mandatory military conscription and replace it with an all-volunteer system.
- The plan involves recruiting at least 30,000 volunteer soldiers annually for four-year terms, with improved benefits such as pay raises, a lump-sum completion bonus, and the ability to commute.
- This reform aims to create a more professional military by reducing administrative personnel, enhancing soldier welfare, prohibiting abuse, and upgrading training.
- The party argues that a fully voluntary system will improve security performance, reduce problems like drug use and depression in camps, and curb abusive practices.
The party’s newest announcement on Thursday (December 25) focused on abolishing compulsory military conscription.
It came as the Bhumjaithai Party’s official Facebook page circulated what it described as a national security policy statement by PM and party leader Anutin Charnvirakul, proposing a shift from conscripts to 100,000 volunteer soldiers serving four-year terms with a monthly salary of THB12,000.
However, it remained unclear whether the figure referred to recruiting 100,000 volunteers each year (totalling 400,000 over four years) or an average of 25,000 a year (totalling 100,000 over four years).
The party said further details were needed, noting that the Bhumjaithai website page hosting the policy set could not be accessed at the time.
Under the People’s Party plan, compulsory conscription would be scrapped, with reductions targeted at administrative posts while combat manpower would remain unchanged.
The party said it would cut overall privates mainly in administrative roles from 130,000 to 119,000, while recruiting at least 30,000 volunteer soldiers a year for four-year terms, extendable to eight years.
The party said volunteers would receive improved benefits, including annual pay rises of 3% and a lump-sum payment of THB120,020 after completing a four-year contract.
It described the payout formula as: final monthly salary × years of service × 2.5.
It also said soldiers would be allowed to commute, travelling in the morning and returning home in the evening, after completing intensive training, rather than being required to stay in barracks at all times.
The party argued that a fully voluntary system would improve security performance, reduce drug problems and depression in camps, and curb abusive practices such as soldiers being pressured to hand over part of their salary or allowances to superiors in exchange for permission to go home.
To manage placements, the party proposed setting up a “Clearing House” to allocate volunteers to military bases based on applicants’ preferences and unit demand.
It also pledged an additional THB500 a month for soldiers who choose to delay discharge, as an incentive to retain experienced personnel.
The People’s Party said a future “people’s government” would review and upgrade training curricula for conscripts and volunteers to ensure all branches were properly prepared for threats, and would expand welfare and rights protections for lower-ranking personnel.
It pledged a rights-protection system that would prohibit physical and psychological abuse, alongside clearer career pathways and professional combat-readiness training.
Summing up the policy, the party said: “Orange, no grey; with us, no forced conscription, towards a professional military with decent pay, full welfare, strong combat readiness and effective national defence.”
