In the wake of another assault occurring within a military unit that resulted in a 22-year-old conscript, Kacha Pacha, falling into a coma, army chief Chalermchai Sitthisad has assured there will be an investigation and that the wrongdoers will be punished.
In April of last year, he made the same promise following the deadly assault against Pvt Noppadol Worakitpan committed by his superiors. He also said he had made it clear that assaults within the military would not be tolerated. Yet, this new case has come to light this week.
This time, the army chief claimed that the incident was a "brawl" between Pvt Kacha and other privates.
Gen Chalermchai and his successors will have to waste their glory years in the top post delivering the same assurances. This will carry on as long as they let the army operate in a way in which transparency is lacking and impunity is provided as a privilege to the culprits.
Pvt Kacha, attached to Infantry Division 31 in Lop Buri, has been in intensive care since Tuesday after suffering acute cardiac arrest. According to his aunt, his family was told by the army unit that the three privates, who were his seniors, beat Pvt Kacha up for an alleged breach of discipline.
Yet, Gen Chalermchai insisted that severe disciplinary punishment is not allowed in army barracks. However, whether this is a result of the disciplinary action or a personal brawl, it should not have occurred or been allowed.
When a fatal assault or punishment takes place within a military compound, the public always hopes that it will be the last one, but it never is.
In the past 11 years, there have been 11 known cases in which army conscripts, military cadets and junior officers have died in barracks. Among them, eight cases were the result of assault, torture or disciplinary punishments committed by those who were higher in the chain of command, according to Prachatai news agency. The causes of the other three deaths remain a mystery.
After each death, the army was reluctant to reveal the actual circumstances that led to the fatality. It also only sent the perpetrators to military prison or imposed disciplinary action, when they should have been put on trial in court for criminal offences.
Several times, families of the victims also alleged there was an attempted cover-up by the army. Sometimes, their relatives and those who spoke out even faced intimidation from men in uniform.
More recently, the family of deceased armed forces cadet Pakapong "Moei" Tanyakan this week requested that the Medical Council investigate the military-run Phramongkutklao Hospital's handling of an autopsy that allegedly caused damage to certain organs making it impossible to unearth contributory factors in his death.
The case attracted controversy following the death last October when the school said it was a result of a sudden cardiac arrest while his family suspects he died after a physical assault.
These are just the cases that the public has been made aware of. There could be many others that have gone unreported simply because there were no fatalities.
The army needs to disclose to the public how its regulations banning physical assault and brutal punishment are communicated to, and passed down among, all its units and what punitive measures have been put in place.
With the repeated occurrence of deadly new fatal assault cases, it seems like not all the army's ranks have adhered to its policy of zero tolerance toward torture and assaults if such policy exists as claimed.
This latest case that left Pvt Kacha in a coma should be the last. But given the way that the army has handled this and other previous incidents, it serves as a reason to believe it may not be.
