December 31, 2004

Senior officer blasts inquiry

Claims Tak Bai panel `wrong to blame him'

 WASSANA NANUAM

 A senior military officer facing a disciplinary probe for alleged

negligence during the Tak Bai protest says the independent inquiry was

unfair to accuse him of leaving the scene too early.

 Maj-Gen Chalermchai Viroonpetch, commander of the Fifth Infantry Division,

insisted he was at the scene from when the protest began until it ended.

 He said he did not leave until after the last army truck carrying

demonstrators had left Tak Bai even though he had suffered head injuries

when protesters threw rocks at him.

 ``Why did the probe panel conclude that I, as a commander, was not at the

scene to handle the transport of protesters. It's unfair as I was there from

the morning until 8pm. I waited until the last truck carrying demonstrators

left Tak Bai police station for Ingkhayutthaboriharn camp in Pattani,'' said

Maj-Gen Chalermchai.

 The independent inquiry, chaired by Pichet Soonthornpipit, said it was the

disorganised transport of Tak Bai demonstrators, supervised by

inexperienced, low-ranking personnel, that led to 78 suffocation deaths, but

found the deaths were not intentional.

 About 1,300 demonstrators were rounded up on Oct 25 and transported by army

trucks. The protesters were piled on top of one another in the trucks,

resulting in deaths.

 The panel blamed senior military and police officers for their failure to

supervise the transport of those in custody, particularly Maj-Gen

Chalermchai, who the panel said had been assigned to oversee the transfer of

demonstrators but had left the scene early with no valid reason.

 The Fifth Infantry Division commander said the findings were discouraging,

since he had worked hard that day. However, he was willing to go in front of

the disciplinary probe and give testimony, he said.

 Maj-Gen Chalermchai, a former classmate of Prime Minister Thaksin

Shinawatra at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School, is one of the

three high-ranking military officers facing disciplinary investigation.

 The other two are Fourth Army commander Lt-Gen Pisarn Wattanawongkhiri and

Fourth Army deputy commander Maj-Gen Sinchai Nutsathit.

 Lt-Gen Pisarn was in overall charge of the operation. Maj-Gen Sinchai is

faulted for not issuing warnings to other trucks after discovering

protesters had suffocated on the first truck to reach the army camp.