Pheu Thai and Move Forward said they want to reform the military, including the lifting of conscription, should they come into power after the next election.
Though the move will likely be popular among younger Thais, it is not universally supported by all parties. Both the Thai Sang Thai and the Democrat Party believe that military conscription is necessary but it should be improved from its current form according to our survey and interview of policy makers.
Pheu Thai Party
Prommin Lertsuridej, the chief of Pheu Thai’s policy committee, told Thai Enquirer that military conscription should be replaced with a volunteer system thereby creating a professional army.
“First we have to find out whether we have too many soldiers or not and then make sure that we have enough personnel for necessary purposes only,” he said.
“One of the main ways to do that is through the development of a volunteer system which is something that we want to see,” he said.
Apart from getting rid of conscription, military camps should be transformed into “colleges” in peacetime where various occupational trainings are provided alongside military drills.
Prommin said another important issue is transparency in military spending to avoid corruption and misuse of resources.
He said weapons purchases must be based on requirements, the benefits of the country via the best financial deal possible and the benefit of the people.
For adding transparency, it can be done via technologies such as the Government Financial Management Information System, he said. The system which supports the automation and integration of public financial management processes is currently being used by the finance ministry, according to its website.
Thai Sang Thai
Former fighter pilot and party member Sita Divari told Thai Enquirer that conscription should be used when necessary only.
“Saying that military conscription should be abolished is [not the only solution],” he said.
“If we abolish it, where we are going get soldiers from?”
Sita said there is a need to find out how many conscripted soldiers the country truly needs to ensure sovereignty and there is a need to make sure that conscripted soldiers are actually serving their purposes.
“They should not be taken from their families to go and serve as servants for high-ranking soldiers,” he said.
“A yearly conscription, no matter in the thousands or ten thousands, must be beneficial for the people only, not to provide benefits for commanding officers,” he said.
He said the benefits that conscripted soldiers receive should be more suitable to make sure that there are going to be a lot of volunteers with conscription to round out the number.
“Basically, conscription should be used when it is truly necessary such as when there is a shortage,” he said.
Sita added that the training programs must not include inhuman drills and punishments to avoid unnecessary injuries and deaths and improve the military’s image.
He also said active military reserve forces such as national guards in the US could be set up to lower the necessity for conscripted soldiers.
Move Forward Party (MFP)
MFP Leader Pita Limjaroenrat posted on his Facebook page on the Royal Thai Armed Forces Day on January 18 that if his party is in government, they will push for the reformation of the military.
He said the party will push for amendments and new regulations that will lead to the separation of the armed forces from politics, put an end to the vicious coup cycle, provide more transparency, take better care of low ranking soldiers and upgrade the defense system to protect against new threats.
This include:
- Reducing the number of generals to 400 and lowering the number of active soldiers from 330,000 to 170,000.
- The abolishment of military conscription and replace it with a volunteer system
- Ensure that soldiers’ human rights are protected from inhumane training and punishment
- Provide channels for soldiers to make complaints with military inspectors
- Revamp the wage payment system to prevent high ranking soldiers from skimming them
- Ensure that food and healthcare inside military camps are adequate
- Provide more welfare such as social insurance, life insurance and scholarship for soldiers’ children
- End servant soldier practices
- Revamp the promotion system to get rid of corruption and make it more merit-based
- Abolish military trials for general cases
Democrat Party
Democrat Party MP Pisit Leeahtam said conscription still provided an opportunity to the less fortunate and should be reformed not removed.
He said there are around 100,000 conscripted soldiers per year and most of them are underprivileged.
As a result, conscription is one of the options for them to have a better life.
“Most of them do not have an opportunity to enter university and society should not neglect them,” he said.
“What we should do is make sure that if or when they are conscripted they will be able to increase their level of education and receive occupational trainings that they can use to improve their quality of life if they choose to leave the military after the two years conscription period,” he said.
Pisit pointed out to what is being done in Israel and Singapore where conscripted soldiers are contributing to the economic and social developments because they received education and occupational training.
However, he agreed that benefits for conscripted soldiers in Thailand should be improved.
“They should be able to spend the two years to improve their opportunities, not just wasting it,” he said.
Pisit said the Reserve Officer Training Corps (an inactive reserve) is adequate enough for people who do not want to take the chance of being conscripted.