The opposition is demanding a drastic reform of the businesses run by the military, pressing for insolvency, privatization, restructuring, and transfer to other agencies so that the national armed forces could stay focused on their main mission — security of the country.
The military claims it holds many national assets and properties to generate income for their needs that are not met by national budgetary allocations. They have maintained that these activities are for the sake of national security and the welfare of junior officials in the armed forces.
“The claim contradicts the fact that there is a severe debt problem among lower-ranking soldiers,” the chairman of the House of Representatives Military Affairs Committee, Wiroj Lakkhanaadisorn, said.
“Out of the total 250,000 personnel from all branches of the military, 53,210 soldiers, or 21%, are left with less than 30% per cent of their salary after their cooperative loan deductions. Additionally, 81,030 soldiers, or 32% of the total personnel, get less than 9,000 baht as take-home pay after deductions,” he said during a seminar on the military business at Thammasat University over the weekend.
Panelists at the seminar revealed that the Thai armed forces and agencies under the jurisdiction of the Defense Ministry owned 6.5 million rai (2.56 million acres) of land, 200 licenses of radio, television, digital TV transmission, and telecommunication networks, 61 golf courses, more than 20 hotels, and resorts, 371 attractive sites, oil wells and a refinery facility, a pharmaceutical factory, more than 200 retail shops and gas stations, as well as stakes in the aviation industry and portfolio investment in many sectors including banking and insurance.
Business from A to Z
The Thai military is engaged in a range of businesses from A to Z, from toothpick to warship both known and unknown, People’s Party MP from Chachoengsao Jirat Thongsuwan said.
“The military also operates public transportation services and offers cremation-at-sea [loi angkhan] services through the Navy at the Sattahip Naval Base,” he said. “It runs agricultural businesses, ranging from cricket farms and organic rice cultivation to food processing.”
“Numerous other investments fall outside the military’s core responsibilities, highlighting its extensive involvement in commercial activities beyond its primary defense role,” Jirat said.
The main concern was that the military operated these businesses without legitimacy, efficiency, transparency, and accountability, said Chulalongkorn University scholar Puangthong Pawakapan.
Utilising national resources such as land, property, budget, and manpower, the military often claims that these revenues are used to support their personnel, and sometimes they argue that certain operations enable the military to be self-sufficient, she said.
“Yet, we often hear reports that lower-ranking soldiers are heavily exploited. So, where does this income disappear?” Puangthong posed.
In February, the House of Representatives set up an ad hoc committee to explore possibilities and approaches to transfer business enterprises run by the armed forces to other agencies with business expertise.
The ad hoc committee has been examining a large number of businesses owned and operated by the military. In the next few months, it will come up with several recommendations for the government and the armed forces on how to handle these businesses in the public interest while ensuring that low-ranking officials will have sustainable welfare.
For the sake of security?
The military has maintained that it operates numerous enterprises for the sake of national security, rather than for business income. However, many panelists argued that many of them failed to meet the objective due to their poor business management.
TV Channel 5, which has been operated by the Army since 1958, rarely served the objective as only about 8 per cent of its content was related to security matters, while many radio stations played music and entertainment programs around the clock every day.
The ratings of TV 5 are quite low, ranking 19th out of 20 rated stations, with an average of 8,915 viewers and reaching a total audience of 7.1 million people. Its financial performance over the past six years shows an average loss of 100 million baht per year, according to the panel.
Analayo Korsakul, an advisor to the committee of military affairs, said the electricity enterprise run by the Navy in Sattahip district failed to serve the purpose of supply security, as the Navy does not itself produce electricity. It purchases from the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand to resell it to the people in the district. In this role as a middleman, the
Navy earns a profit of over 100 million baht per year on revenue of 1.6 billion to 1.8 billion baht, he said.
The Navy in fact is not acting in the interest of national security, but rather for certain welfare benefits. It is known that the funds have been used for welfare programs such as childcare facilities or life insurance for personnel, he said.
However, some of these welfare benefits should not exist. The Navy should submit project proposals to the House of Representatives for approval of an annual budget, which would allow for proper oversight and accountability, he said.
Not so secure
The Military Energy Department, which is responsible for the oil rig and refinery operation in Fang district of Chiang Mai province was seen as too poor to guarantee energy security for the country, according to Bencha Saengchantra, a deputy chairperson of the ad hoc committee.
The Fang Basin has an oil reserve of 63 million barrels. With a production capacity of 800 barrels per day, the military-run enterprise was able to share only 1% of Thailand’s total production, she said.
“This makes the military's frequent claim that the Fang oil field serves as an energy security guarantee for the military and the nation in times of crisis almost implausible,” Bencha said at the seminar. The quality of the refined fuel from the refinery facility was too low to serve daily consumption, he added.
The diesel fuel refined from the military facility was equivalent to EURO1 standard, while most diesel engines in the country required fuel of EURO5 standard, she said.
The Northern Petroleum Development Center, which operates the Fang oil rig and refinery facility, has failed to focus on its main mission as it runs two luxury hotels — in northern Chiang Mai and eastern Rayong provinces.
The 770-million-baht hotel located on state property adjacent to a beachfront in Rayong province operates under the name Serene Phla Resort Rayong. The centre claims it is a venue for training petroleum and energy personnel.
However, its official Facebook page shows that the business is functioning as a full-service tourism enterprise, offering hotel accommodation, tour packages, and various leisure services, including a theme park, water park, and concert venue. Some rooms are priced as high as 33,000 baht per night. The project is reportedly subsidized by revenue from the Fang oil field, according to Bencha.
Golf course or public park?
People’s Party MP for Pathum Thani province Chetawan Thuaprakhon called for the transfer from the Air Force a huge golf course with 625 rai (247 acres) of land, located in a prime location of his constituency, to serve as a public park for some 500,000 residents of the area.
The golf course served only a few hundred golfers, including senior officers and retired generals, generating only 11 million baht annually for the Air Force, he said. “Why don’t we maximize the utility of the plot of land worth over 10 billion baht beyond the benefit of these old military officers?”
The ad hoc committee found that many military golf courses located in prime locations across the countries, notably in major provinces such as Chiang Mai and Nakhon Ratchasima, could be transferred to local authorities to make them public parks, enabling residents to have some more green areas.
In many cases, different military branches have their golf courses in nearby locations. “I wonder if the army and air force officers could share the same golf course and transfer the rest for use as public parks or allow business investment to do many other beneficial things,” he said.
Chetawan also urged the Air Force to end its operation of a golf course located between two runways of Don Mueang Airport for safety reasons and to enhance the airport capacity. “It’s very dangerous to have a golf course located between the two runways, why doesn’t the Air Force think of maximum safety for passengers beyond the benefit of its retired officers?” he asked, and suggested that there were plenty of military and private-run golf courses nearby for them to play.
Military reform for development
Phicharn Chaowapatanawong, an executive member of the opposition People’s Party, blamed the military-backed government under Prayut Chan-o-cha for commissioning the Navy to run the Eastern Economic Corridor project and the aviation city in U-Tapao just because the 6,500 rai (around 2,570 acres) of land was under the Navy’s possession despite their lack of expertise in running such development projects.
He pointed to a commercial port for a yacht club in Chuk Samet at the Naval base in Sattahip as a waste of the 250-million-baht investment as the facility has been vacant since 2020 after construction.
Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, chairman of the Progressive Movement Foundation who is also a member of the ad hoc committee, said the revamp of military business was a crucial part of efforts to reform the military to offload unnecessary burdens from the shoulders of the armed forces, enabling it to focus only on national defense.
“The common characteristic of assets managed by the military is that they are not subject to accountability. Without accountability, it is unclear whether these resources are being used efficiently,” said Thanathorn, former leader of the now-defunct Future Forward Party.
As a member of the ad hoc committee, Thanathorn recommended several alternatives for the government to handle the military business such as transferring land that the military does not use for its core mission to the finance ministry, the insolvency of some bankrupt businesses, privatization, and restructuring of stakeholders.
“When military commercial enterprises are reformed, the country will be able to reduce unnecessary budget expenditure, including utilities, personnel costs, and operational
expenses unrelated to the military’s core mission,” he said.
“Assets under military control can be managed and improved by professionals and experts, which will increase the return on investment from these assets. Thailand could see an increase in national revenue of at least 10 billion baht annually, which could be allocated to other areas of national development,” Thanathorn said.
