Policies of the Minister of Defence
General Prawit Wongsuwon
    1. General Policies

    1.1 Encourage military personnel to maintain and safeguard the national institute, religion and monarch institute.
    1.2 Official duties of each unit in the Ministry of Defence are carried out in accordance with the national law, policies given by the Cabinet to the parliament, resolutions of the cabinet, policies and orders given by former Defence Ministers that are still binding. This also includes the National Defence Strategy, Defence Strategic Review Document as well as the Master Plan for Restructuring the Ministry of Defence.
    1.3 Consider developing and updating laws, rules, regulations, orders, and cabinet resolutions relevant to the Ministry of Defence, in correspondence with the current situation and the necessity of economic, social and national security to assure the achievement of missions assigned by the Ministry of Defence and the government with the least impact on rights and freedom of the civilian. As for laws, rules, regulations, orders, and cabinet regulations which are not under responsibilities of the Ministry of Defence, yet pose an impact on the operations of the Ministry of Defence, concerned agencies are urged to propose recommendations to overcome such impact.
    1.4 Prioritize in response to urgent policies of the government that are related to the operations of the Ministry of Defence, as well as, other specific assignments.

    2. Policy to maintain National Security

    2.1 Safeguard and uphold the Monarchy Institution with the King as the Head of State and the Highest Commander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, as well as, to support activities derived from the Royal wishes, so that the Monarchy Institution remains as the centre that harmonises hearts and souls of the Thai people, and as the vital democratic institution with the King as the Head of State. The Ministry of Defence is to be the leading organisation to comprehensively incorporate works among other governmental agencies.
    2.2 Develop policy and strategy of the Ministry of Defence according to the geographical factor of Thailand and the regional environment of the globe as to enable the Armed Forces to determine their roles and to prepare for the development of combat force structure, the readiness of the armed forces and the readiness of personnel to be expertise in the mission and to acquire appropriate equipments, as well as to improve Command & Control system, internal structure and management to be efficient, balanced, flexible and highly agile under the collective resource management of the Armed Forces.
    2.3 Develop the capabilities of the Armed Forces to be multi-purposed Armed Forces with abilities to uphold independence, security of the kingdom, counter insurgent and unrest, safeguard national interests, and perform other military operations other than war or other operations as stated by the laws or resolutions of the cabinet, as well as, promptly terminate the dispute where our side holds an advantage with emphasising on the order of border area and the security environment in preparation for response of situation. The preparation includes flexibility and combat sustainment, joint operations and readiness to respond to non-traditional challenges both domestically and internationally.
    2.4 Revise and develop the intelligence system to be modernised and efficient, strategically, operationally and tactically, for commanders to make decisions and issue orders correctly and timely. There should also be a surveillance and early warning system with efficient counter intelligence, and an efficient integration of capabilities of each service.
    2.5 Develop doctrine, organisation, training and education of the Armed Forces to be more appropriate and with flexibility. These can be achieved by continuously testing and improving of doctrine and activities so that they are coincided with the National Defence Plans, and are able to efficiently operate both tactically and operationally. Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters is to be responsible for training and education at strategic level, joint operations of the Royal Thai Armed Forces, and the operations of the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters whereas the Royal Thai Army, the Royal Thai Navy and the Royal Thai Air Force are to be responsible for training and education at operating and tactical level.
    2.6 Develop the joint logistics system and standard of equipment in accordance with the requirement of the Royal Thai Armed Forces by establishing committees appointed by the Ministry of Defence to be responsible for the implementation.
    2.7 Develop the reserve system, mobilisation system, and logistics system to have the capability to reinforce in wartime. This is to ensure that the Armed Forces upgrade the capability efficiently and timely, and in accordance with the National Defence Plan. There should be a revision of structure and numbers of active force to be more appropriate to threat situation and budget constraints.
    2.8 Develop and promote knowledge in the fields of science and defence technology. Support defence research and development for deterrence and for self-reliance by seeking cooperation with research network both within and outside the Ministry of Defence, in the public sector, the private sector and friendly nations. The cooperation would lead to the capabilities development of the defence industry and the building of confidence in specifying the standard of military equipment.
    2.9 Develop activities related to defence industry needed to maintain the assurance for the security of military equipment and energy for the armed forces. Exploit the capabilities of the Ministry of Defence in support of the development of alternative energy from the local source by cooperating with government, private sector and friendly nations to develop alternative energy, and by urging every agency within the Ministry of Defence to take part in supporting the use of alternative energy within the military compound.
    2.10 Development Information Technology and Communication system for general administration of the Ministry of Defence according to the strategy of e-defence development, as well as to concretely promote the implementation of the information system, communication and space affairs within the Ministry of Defence by emphasizing on the creation of integration, development of knowledge for personnel to be equivalent of those in other developed nations.
    2.11 Exploit the capabilities of the Ministry of Defence to develop defence cooperative roles with neighbouring nations, member nations of ASEAN, and friendly nations, as well as international organisations, both bilaterally and multilaterally by implementing deterrence and defence diplomacy to arrange the order of the security environment, reducing doubts, building confidence, establishing peace, stability and prosperity under ASEAN framework. Foster activities for peace and humanitarian operations, as well as promote the role of peacekeeping under the UN umbrella and for the benefits of the nation as main concern by solving conflict through negotiation means, placing importance on survey and determination of demarcation line among neighbouring nations according the agreement and treaty, coordinating and cooperating with neighbouring nations in preventing and solving problems that may affect security in the border areas, and promoting safety of life and property of the citizen in border areas.
    2.12 Develop the roles in unifying with every sectors in order to continuously defend the nation, starting from peaceful times to a complete mobilisation under times of unrest. This is achieved by having every aspects of national powers to support the mission for security incorperating with agencies under the Ministry of Defence with the emphasis on close and effective cooperations within and outside the Ministry of Defence.
    2.13 Promote the resources utilisation of the Ministry of Defence for optimal benefits of the nation by employing the capabilities of the Armed Forces to develop national powers that assist the people from hardship and facilitate the development of the nation. These can be achieved by supporting the continuation of the Royal Initiative Projects, protecting national interests, developing for security and prosperity of the nation under His Majesty the King’s Philosophy of self-sufficiency economy, as well as, protecting, relieving and solving important national problems which comprise of environment problems, disaster victims, terrorism, domestic crimes and other transnational crimes including drug, illegal immigrants, illegal foreign labour, illegal trade, human trafficking, piracy and cyber crimes. However, the mentioned supports shall not cause any damage to the mission of the Armed Forces in defending the nation.
    2.14 Encourage national unity, harmony and reconciliation of civilian of the nation by using mechanism and existing tools to promote understanding for civilian of every level to grass root level to thrive the nation out of the problem and lead the nation for prosperity. Promote harmony between military and civilian by raising awareness to prevent alienation that obstructs the consolidation of national power. These can be achieved by promoting ideology in patriotism and religion, as well as honouring and safeguarding the Monarchy Institute, and upholding the democratic administration with the King as the Head of State.
    2.15 Support national mechanism in accelerating the administrative and directive in solving and ending the unrest in the southern provinces of Thailand without delay. Ending the unrest by eliminating causes of the problems that encourage the alienation of the civilian in the area, directing coordination for benefits, inhabiting among minorities of the society that has diversity of nationality, religion, culture and tradition, and giving an emphasise to the education of the civilian in the area, is seen as the priority policy that needs to be implemented. Ending the unrest can be achieved by implementing Royal statement of “Understand, Approach and Develop” as guideline to solve the problems, as well as, to develop safety environment and to maintain the living standard of the civilian to be equivalent to those of other civilian in other nations. The Royal Thai Armed Forces as the responsible organisation of the Ministry of Defence which is in support of preventing and solving the unrest, provides consideration for cooperation and development in developing guideline to create peace in the area.
    2.16 Uphold military institution with pride and dignity, and enhance good image of the Ministry of Defence as an organization for which people can trust and rely upon. This is to create cooperation and support the operative of the Ministry of Defence as the organisation mainly responsible for maintaining security of the nation.
    2.17 Consider the use of media under control of agencies in the Ministry of Defence to conduct public relations campaign for the purposes of enhancing knowledge, understanding, faith and believe, pride and dignity, and good image of the military institution and the Ministry of Defence as a whole that are accepted domestically and internationally.
    2.18 Encourage and supervise the personnel to perform their duty effectively by improving educational knowledge of the personnel of the Armed Forces to play part in developing the Armed Forces, and by improving morale and welfare activities especially the improvement on infrastructure of military units which are appropriate for operating during peace time including office building, housing ,environment in military units and other areas as well as creating income, up lifting the living standard of the personnel and family.
    2.19 Acknowledge the importance of war veterans and their families for creating faith to people, and motivation to serve in military with duties of protecting the nation. These can be achieved by developing welfares and other services for the veterans and their families to be able to sustain their lives in the society with pride and dignity, and to glorify the veterans that are to be recognized in every part of the society of their importance in sacrificing their lives for the nation.
    2.20 Develop the administrative system of the Ministry of Defence by emphasising development on quality of life, ethics and morals of the personnel along with the improvement on structure and operating process to effectively implement the 4 Year Operative Plan of the Ministry of Defence, Annual Operative Plan of the Ministry of Defence, and other concerned plans to fulfil the needs of the civilian according to the good governance.

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