[BP: Was also going to blog on the Class 12 lock on the key military-police positions. Prayuth and Wichean are four and three years away from retirement so they can control things for the next three years.

Another point of interest is that both of them have spent signigicant periods of time of their careers in the palace or units connected with the palace. Wichean is referred to by Post Today as a "palace policeman" (ตำรวจวัง) and spent 25 years in the Office of Royal Court Security Police (1981-2006). Am unsure exactly how long that Prayuth spent at 21st Infantry Regiment (The Queen's Guard) of the 2nd Infantry, but he rose through the ranks serving, what the ICG states, was "several years".]

By James Harriman

Thailand’s National Police Board (NPB), headed by the prime minister and responsible for the selection of the national police chief, finally agreed on August 9th to appoint Gen. Wichean Potephosree as the country’s permanent national police chief, as reported by the Nation,

“The Royal Thai Police Board Monday voted to select deputy national police chief Gen. Wichien Potephosree as the next police commissioner-general. Wichien will replace acting police chief Pol Gen Patheep Tanprasert, who will retire at the end of September. The board gave a 8-0 vote to give the top police post to Wichien. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Patheep abstained during the vote. Justice Minister Phirapan Saliratvipak was absent from the meeting.”

Gen. Patheep served as the caretaker police chief for a full year because members of the NPB opposed PM Abhisit’s nomination, preferring Gen. Jumpol Manmai instead. The NPB met on several occassions in 2009 to select a permanent chief, but each time they rejected the PM’s nominee. Gen. Jumpol reportedly had the backing of power figures such as deputy prime minister Suthep Thuagsuban, coalition partner Bhum Jai Thai, and PM’s secretary-genral Niphon Promphan. On top of this, Jumpol backers claimed to have the “highest” support and “special signals”, which weren’t talked about officially because of strict lese majeste laws. Bangkok Pundit has several posts on the earlier NPB drama here, here, and here.

Eventually, after several missed attempts, the PM just bypassed the NPB entirely, letting Patheep serve as the caretaker chief for the entire year until his retirement. Given the NPB’s past history, the speed and ease of Wichean’s appointment has surprised many observers. How could the NPB be at loggerheads for more than a year and then all of a sudden there’s a unanimous vote for a new chief? According to the Bangkok Post, this time around, the PM decided seniority should play a deciding role in the selection, which apparently brought everyone into line,  

Pol Gen Wichean was the only name proposed to the board by the prime minister. The choice of Pol Gen Wichean as the new police leader came as no surprise as the prime minister had said earlier seniority would be considered seriously. That criteria gave assistant national police chief Assawin Khwanmuang, who has a close connection with the Democrats, no chance to compete as he had less seniority than others. Pol Gen Wichean fitted the criteria as he was given his police general rank in 2002 before the other officers with the potential to be promoted to the top position.

Other than seniority and a few other minor attributes, there’s not much else provided on how the PM managed a unanimous vote. In fact, the seniority factor remained unresolved and up to interpretation as the Bangkok Post earlier reported,

Mr Abhisit earlier said the principle of seniority is one of the core criteria when considering who will be the next police chief. He stressed that clarification and justification must be given in cases where junior officers are promoted above their seniors.

Among the police generals, the two most senior deputy police chiefs are Pol Gen Wichean and Priewpan Damapong.

But who is the most senior of the two police generals remains unclear.

The Royal Thai Police Office’s legal panel could not reach a conclusion on seniority of the two police generals in its latest meeting on June 30.

Pol Gen Wichean earned his police general rank in 2002, before Pol Gen Priewpan who got his two years later. Still, in terms of the Royal Thai Police’s hierarchy, Pol Gen Priewpan took up the post of deputy national police chief before Pol Gen Wichean.

The Thai papers and blogs, however, give some additional explanations for Wichien’s unanimous selection, which go beyond the PM’s “seniority talking point”. The Bangkok Post, to give it credit, did publish an article the other day mentioning the “Prayuth connection”, which probably came from the article “ตท.12 ยึดหัวหาด สายพันธุ์ใหม่ “ทหารเสือฯ ลูกป๋า” ความฝันของ “ประยุทธ์” และเบิร์ธเดย์ “ป๋า” in this week’s Matichon Weekly. The other articles are from Sondhi’s The Manager and Yoon’s The Nation, and yet despite the known biases of the two papers, the arguments are logical and well reasoned. Below are their arguments, plus a few of my own interspersed in.

First, Jumpol Manmai, the NPB’s earlier favorite, retires this year, so those connected to him have a different choice selection this time around.

Second, BJT realized its 4-5 votes would not be enough to block the PM and/or sway the PM to its nominee Gen. Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit, so in the end BJT threw all its votes behind the PM’s choice.

Third, Gen. Priewpan Damapong, who is arguably the most senior officer, probably gets an automatic disqualification because he is linked to the wrong political patron, Thaksin Shinawatra. Priewpan is the former prime minister’s brother-in-law.

Fourth, and probably the most persuasive, Wichean hails from Class 12, the same pre-cadet class as the incoming army commander-in-chief Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha. From this angle, the selection of Wichean makes complete sense. Bringing in another Class 12 officer, shores up a main weakness of the government-military-palace (anti-red shirt) alliance, the police. In the past, the unofficial alliance has questioned the loyalty of the police, saying it operates in “neutral gear” in order to avoid having to crackdown on its supposed allies, Thaksin and the red shirts.

Thus, the ascension of Wichean to the police chief post gives Class 12 a lock on the top army and police positions, which may prove crucial if the government-military-palace alliance needs to fend of a future “attack” by the red shirts. As Matichon Weekly puts it, [incoming] commander-in-chief Prayuth (Class 12) and chief-of-staff Dapong Rattanasuwan (Class 12), may have to “tag team” again in managing the “red menace” like last May, which may include police chief Wichien (Class 12) and deputy police chief Santhan Chayanon (Class 12).

The Matichon Weekly article also notes Class 12′s soon to be control over Army Areas 2 and 3 as well as the Special Warfare Command and Army Air Defense Command. Will all of this unravel if the Democrats fail to win the next election and form a government? If Puea Thai wins, what sort of retribution is in store for the current power-holders? How much of a class loyalist will Wichien be if the reds or yellow shirts take to the streets again?

Matichon Weekly: เหตุผลประการสำคัญที่ พล.อ.ประยุทธ์ และ พล.ท.ดาว์พงษ์ เพื่อนรัก และ เสธ. คู่ใจ ต้องเลือกเพื่อน ตท.12 มาเป็นแผง ก็เพราะต้องแท็กทีมกันจัดการ “ภัยคุกคามสีแดง” เหมือนเมื่อช่วงพฤษภาคมที่ผ่านมา ที่อาจรวมไปถึงการที่ พล.ต.อ.วิเชียร พจน์โพธิ์ศรี เพื่อน ตท.12 ได้เป็น ผบ.ตร. และมี พล.ต.ท.สัณฐาน ชยนนท์ ผบ.ชน. เป็นกำลังหลักในสีกากี

James Harriman

harrimanjay@yahoo.com

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