Showing 1 - 8 of 8
Violence no way to discipline kids
Editorial, Published on 13/10/2024
» The recent rejection of the draft law against child spanking by the House of Representatives for further review should alarm us all.
More than just thugs
Oped, Editorial, Published on 02/12/2023
» The premiere screenings of 4Kings (Part 2), a local drama-action film that depicts violent scuffles among vocational school students, attracted a big police presence.
Conscription's days numbered
News, Editorial, Published on 11/12/2022
» Late last month, 23 high school students in Narathiwat were rushed to hospital after harsh military training. Eight needed dialysis due to life-threatening dehydration and kidney failure.
Defending the indefensible?
News, Editorial, Published on 04/12/2019
» This week, both the government and the Defence Ministry went on the defensive. They have publicly countered the opposition's quest to scrutinise the military's "off-budget" spending and abolish conscription. Unfortunately, their defence has ended up as almost indefensible -- simply because their arguments lack any real substance.
Conscription's time is up
News, Editorial, Published on 16/11/2019
» There are many good reasons why the Future Forward Party's (FFP) bill to replace military conscription with a system of voluntary enrolment should be passed by parliament. One of them is that it will, for the first time, let young men, especially those from poor families, decide their own future. Another is that it will force the military to re-assess the usefulness and review its use of this chunk of the defence personnel, who several times have suffered grave human rights abuses and fatalities.
Torture law must pass
News, Editorial, Published on 17/12/2018
» This week the junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly (NLA) will begin winding up business for the year. On the schedule for Thursday is the reading of a bill that is long overdue. If passed -- and it must -- it will officially bar government and security forces from using torture and enforced disappearance. It is shocking, this far into the 21st century, that a civilised nation has never prohibited these odious practices.
Army chief feels a draft
News, Editorial, Published on 06/11/2018
» As a new batch of conscripts reported to the army late last week, army commander Apirat Kongsompong used the occasion to defend conscription into the Royal Thai Armed Forces. In the process, Gen Apirat stated two different points in one pithy sentence -- one basically true and the other off the track. He also unfortunately took the occasion to champion current military discipline. He would have been better advised to speak about reform of the Thai military, starting with its methods of discipline.
Conscripts aren't servants
News, Editorial, Published on 19/07/2018
» The army's tradition of allowing officers to use conscripts as personal houseboys was hit with more bad press this week as one of the newly enlisted men exposed his degrading and inhumane working and living conditions while serving at the residence of a military officer.