News Forum - Thai army saves man walking 1350 kilometres from Songkhla to Buriram

[Thaiger]

A man who lost his job in the southern province of Songkhla decided to walk all the way back home to Buriram in northeast Thailand. After 12 days of walking, the 42 year old man stumbled across an army barracks in Phatthalung province, the next province along, on Sunday. The soldiers took care of him and paid for his train ticket back to Isaan. Buriram-born Choi moved to Songkhla about seven months ago to work at a rubber plantation in Na Thawi district. He planned on making money to send home to his family back home in Isaan. At first, […]

The story Thai army saves man walking 1350 kilometres from Songkhla to Buriram as seen on Thaiger News.

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[TheDirtyDurian]

Should have tried hitching. Might have been quicker. 

[palooka]

Still a feel good story, not many in Thailand.

[Vigo]

4 hours ago, palooka said:

Still a feel good story, not many in Thailand.

Reaally? I find it depressing. The man must have been of  very limited intelligence to try this. Worse yet is that he was obviously exploited as an impoverished worker. All that the army did was to send the problem away. No different than what the police do in parts of the world where they take vagrants and poor who show up, and bring them to bus station and put them on next bus out of town. 

[palooka]

7 hours ago, Vigo said:

Reaally? I find it depressing. The man must have been of  very limited intelligence to try this. Worse yet is that he was obviously exploited as an impoverished worker. All that the army did was to send the problem away. No different than what the police do in parts of the world where they take vagrants and poor who show up, and bring them to bus station and put them on next bus out of town. 

People helping other people is good to see and read about

Maybe not a character trait for you personally, but happy to say it is in my character makeup.

[Viggen840]

12 hours ago, Vigo said:

Reaally? I find it depressing. The man must have been of  very limited intelligence to try this. Worse yet is that he was obviously exploited as an impoverished worker. All that the army did was to send the problem away. No different than what the police do in parts of the world where they take vagrants and poor who show up, and bring them to bus station and put them on next bus out of town. 

You have a very sad perspective of the goodwill expressed by the majority of people. In your eyes, no matter what the Army did it would have been wrong. They assisted him in getting back HOME to his FAMILY ferkrissakes!

Thank goodness for Buddhist merit.

[Vigo]

11 hours ago, Viggen840 said:

You have a very sad perspective of the goodwill expressed by the majority of people. In your eyes, no matter what the Army did it would have been wrong. They assisted him in getting back HOME to his FAMILY ferkrissakes!

Thank goodness for Buddhist merit.

No, not at all. There is actually a government facility within social services to deal with these types of cases. The army isn't needed to fix it. The Thai department of social services emergency intervention unit  handles this as well as catastrophes and other domestic emergencies. The Thai military likes to present itself as the be all and end all of social service, when the reality is the opposite.Because foreigners don't see the extensive work the Ministry does and the services it provides, the myth of needing the army to solve this type of issue grows. The army just put a guy on a bus to get him out of the way without verifying if there was someone at the other end to receive the person. Did you know that the ministry of social services actually checks to make sure a person has the family waiting for him, that they take the time to investigate a case to make sure that the person is actually ok? Putting someone on a bus and moving him along and then making sure the world knows what they did is PR not social assistance.

[Thaidup]

7 minutes ago, Vigo said:

The Thai military likes to present itself as the be all and end all of social service,

Have been on the receiving end of this, a few years ago my area was struck by a massive hail storm and the Army was here the next day replacing the roofs.

[Vigo]

12 minutes ago, Thaidup said:

Have been on the receiving end of this, a few years ago my area was struck by a massive hail storm and the Army was here the next day replacing the roofs.

Yes. And they have also been used to fix water pumps in flood control, and to hand out food and water. Do you know who pays? Not the military. The civil government is typically charged for supplies and services.  When there is food and water handed out after flooding, it is the civil government who pays for the supplies. The military hands out and gets the PR credit. Because the military has control of the finances it has the financial means to maintain a large fleet of heavy trucks & equipment. Every 2 years, the military digests 100,000 conscripts. These young people are in effect indentured servants. They are used as cheap labour to maintain the military owned golf courses, resort facilities, office quarters & messes etc. When there is a catastrophe, the military will deploy this labour pool and get the credit for being so generous. The reality is that the money should instead be used by a civilian government and young men not conscripted into doing non military work for entities, not subject to civilian scrutiny.  My point is that the civil Thai government already provides the services and goods, and when it cannot not, pays for them It's the military that takes the credit. Good PR for army and promotes view that Thai civil capabilities are useless, when it is not the case.  Thai government does a lot for the people, but they rarely get the credit  due.

[Thaidup]

12 minutes ago, Vigo said:

When there is a catastrophe, the military will deploy this labour pool and get the credit for being so generous.

But they are expected to deploy, And they should deploy, I don't think it takes anything away from the local government in critical emergencies, I get your point about the golf courses etc, I was the son of a RAAF in Australia and we had that stuff to enjoy too, included a huge swimming pool and cinema (thats from back in the 1970"s)