Thailand’s supreme commander today clarified why the board of the alumni foundation of the Armed Forces Preparatory School removed fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra from the list of outstanding alumni, citing the latter’s improprieties, as recently seen on social media.
General Pornpipat Benyasri did not give details of Thaksin’s alleged improprieties, but said that he believes Thai people are aware of them.
He said that the military found behavior by Thaksin “disturbing” as relates to the code of ethics and norms of the military as he did not appear to know “what is high and what is low” adding that “it was about time that we decided to act.”
Besides being removed from the list of outstanding alumni, the board also decided to recall the Chak Dao awards twice presented to the former prime minister.
“The Chak Dao award is a prestigious reward and, hence, the recipients must act with honour. If there is any information indicating that any recipient cannot keep to that code of honour, we must recall (the award,” said the supreme commander.
