Forces to Reckon With

Why does Thailand still need paramilitary groups?

Militia Redux: Or Sor and the Revival of Paramilitarism in Thailand,by Desmond Ball and David Scott Mathieson. White Lotus Press, Bangkok, 2007.

For those who are familiar with Thailand’s refugee camps, the trouble spots of the deep south or provincial governors’ mansions, the landscape described in Militia Redux may be recognizable. Others may find the avalanche of acronyms and details of organizational dynamics a bit of a shock.

The shock is not that paramilitary forces maintain roles in Thailand’s national security apparatus. The real surprise may be that there is “a bewildering array of such organizations” and that some continue to fill important functions in the “deep ambiguity” that exists between the roles of the police and army.  It is in the murky middle ground that separates the major armed agencies of Thailand’s security apparatus that paramilitaries find continuing relevance.

In this contribution to understanding Thai paramilitaries, Australian National University’s Desmond Ball and David Scott Mathieson provide a comprehensive outline of these organizations and their myriad functions.

The predominant focus of Militia Redux is the Volunteer Defense Corps (Kong Asa Raksa Dindaen), commonly known as Or Sor and, according to Ball and Mathieson, “the largest armed paramilitary organization in Thailand,” which arose from the counter-insurgency priorities of the 1950s.

There have been few thorough analyses of Thailand’s paramilitaries and Ball and Mathieson hope to fill a large gap in the existing literature. Their contribution includes long chapters on the history of paramilitarism in Thailand, the structure of the Or Sor and the organization’s common duties.

It also offers chapters that discuss more specific issues involving Or Sor personnel.  These chapters—on the Or Sor and refugees, the Or Sor and violence in Thailand’s deep south, and the Or Sor’s involvement in crimes and human rights abuses—are dense accounts that provide the evidence for Ball and Mathieson’s broader arguments.  Each is a finely consolidated and well structured introduction to the relevance of the Or Sor in modern Thailand.

In Militia Redux it becomes clear that while the Or Sor perform myriad functions, including fighting forest fires, maintaining law and order in restive areas, securing government property and maintaining border security, they are, as Ball and Mathieson point out, also “widely perceived to be thugs and strongmen of local bosses.”

The Or Sor, notwithstanding their royal patronage and high-level government support, have never enjoyed a good press.