Underworked and overfed generals in the halls of power are. It includes axing generals, downsizing personnel levels, cutting procurement and eradicating graft. That's the public agenda. First to face the axe, he says, will be his favorite unit, the Lopburi-based Special Warfare Center, where he served 18 years, most recently as commander. He has launched a crackdown on mafia-style activity and endemic corruption.
Transparency is the new watchword.
Surayudh is aware of another challenge. The scores of Thai pro-democracy protestors who died in May 1992 in a hail of soldiers' bullets prove that the army has posed a greater danger to the Thai people than the guns of foreign intruders. Few would dispute that the military has helped to open up the backwaters and develop Thailand, fighting off the communist threat of the 1960s and '70s, and stepping in to assist in times of crisis. May 1992 may have stopped the generals in their tracks. Yet, when asked, he can give no assurance that tanks will not rumble again onto Bangkok streets.