Move Forward MP for Bangkok Tisana Choonhavan has called on the army to investigate the suspected suicide of a conscript, who used to be her assistant, to disclose the autopsy results and to scrap conscription.
In her “X” post yesterday, the MP wrote that she had received a message from a close friend of her former assistant, informing her that he had hanged himself in the toilet of an army barracks.
She claimed that she had received messages from the former assistant, complaining of stress and having to perform household chores for his commander, such as sweeping the floors in his house, mowing the lawns and, during the night, his fellow conscripts smoked grass, making it hard for him to sleep.
She called on the commander of the barracks to be held accountable for the untimely death of the conscript and the public to voice support for the revocation of mandatory conscription.
After her “X” post, the hashtag “end mandatory conscription” went viral.
Last week, a naval conscript posted on social media about how he was ordered to do household chores for a naval officer, including washing the boss’s underwear and that of the whole family.
That post also went viral, prompting Defence Minister Sutin Klungsang to demand that the anonymous conscript come forward to tell full details about alleged abuses of conscripts in the military.
Late last night, the army issued a statement, insisting that behind the apparent suicide of conscript Komtat Panrith was his love affair with his girlfriend and it had nothing to do with any abuse he suffered at the army brass band school.
Army officers have spoken with Komtat’s relatives and colleagues. Police and pathologists have performed an autopsy and concluded that the victim died of suffocation by hanging.
The army has expressed its condolences to Komtat’s family, who have been informed of the welfare to which the victim was entitled. The army will also help the family in arranging the funeral, according to the statement.
