By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE NAMING OF PHUMTHAM Wechayachai for defence minister by de facto Pheu Thai boss Thaksin Shinawatra was exponentially raising waves of unwelcoming sentiment and undesirable anguish among the military, either currently serving or retired, said former senator Somchet Boonthanom yesterday (Sept. 3).
Somchet, a retired army general, accused the billionaire power player Thaksin of attempting to take firm control of the country’s top brass to the extent that they be finally compelled to serve his personal and partisan interests.
Somchet said the naming of Phumtham as deputy prime minister-cum-defence minister in the latest Pheu Thai-led cabinet lineup under premiership of Thaksin’s daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra did not only ostensibly underline his hidden design to take command of the military but “stomped heavily on the hearts” of many army veterans, especially those who had fought against communist insurgents and been injured in domestic battlefields during the Cold War era over the last five decades.
Phumtham had earlier joined the now-defunct Communist Party of Thailand which had conducted subversive missions against the military and other authorities in remote provinces shortly after the October 6, 1976 student massacre by government forces in the premises of Thammasat University.
The retired army general said many of his fellow veterans would ultimately find the former communist insurgent-turned-defence minister “unacceptable” with the tasks of commanding the armed forces because he would almost certainly continue to work as a right-hand man for the de facto Pheu Thai boss who had been deposed of power in the 2006 coup by the then-army chief Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, followed by the 2014 coup staged by the then-army chief-turned-prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to oust his sister/former prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Military coups in Thailand can never be ruled out in the future as far as the “power-hungry” Thaksin is concerned, the former senator said.
CAPTION:
Top and Front Page: Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai. Both photos: Thai Rath
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