Songkitti Jaggabatara
Songkitti Jaggabatara ( Thai: ทรง กิตติ จัก กา บาต ร์, RTGS: Songkitti Chakkabat, pronunciation: [ soŋkìttìʔ t͡ɕàkka ː bà ː t]; born December 22, 1950 in Nakhon Ratchasima ) is a Thai general. He was from 2008 to 2011 Chief of the Staff of the Thai Armed Forces.
Life
In the preparatory school of the armed forces Songkitti was a classmate of the future prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He then attended the Royal Military Academy Chulachomklao. From 1972 to 1981 he served in the 3rd Cavalry Battalion of the Royal Guard. The beginning of his period of service he spent in the north of Thailand, where a low intensity conflict with the armed forces of the Communist Party of Thailand took place. When Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978, he served on the border between Thailand and Cambodia.
In 1999, he commanded the "Thai Joint Task Force 972", the part of the International Force East Timor ( INTERFET ) was concerned with the settlement of the crisis in East Timor in 1999. He was the second in the chain of command of INTERFET.
In October 2001, the newly elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was responsible for the appointment of his confidants Songkitti Vice- commander of the Fourth Army, which is responsible for southern Thailand. This caused criticism because Songkitti had never served before in the Fourth Army or in southern Thailand and was his selection as politically motivated. In a report to Thaksin Songkitti declared in 2002 that it was not a serious uprising in the conflict with Muslim separatists in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand. He moved Thaksin to withdraw troops from the region. In April 2003 he was promoted to lieutenant general and commander of the Fourth Army Region. He pushed the officer corps, however, with so much resistance that he was transferred again to another post in October of the same year. In fact, the Southern Thailand conflict escalated from 2004.
On 1 October 2008 Songkitti became the Chief of the Staff of the Armed Forces, the formally highest position in the Thai military transported. In April 2010 he was a director of the newly established Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation ( CRES ). The CRES was founded to restore order in Bangkok and various provinces of Thailand in the wake of the riots of 2010. On October 1, 2011, he was replaced by General Thanasak Patimaprakorn as commander in chief.
Awards
For his services in the INTERFET, he received the Order of Australia in the rank of "Honorary Member" and the International Force East Timor Medal.
On 13 January 2011 he was awarded the President of Singapore, Sellapan Ramanathan, the highest military order of the city state, the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang ( Tentera ) for his services in the cooperation of the Thai Armed Forces and the Armed Forces of Singapore.
Family
Songkitti is married to Poranee Jaggabatara, they have two daughters and a son.