Khaki Mission Creep: The Army, the Princess, and the Border Wall Nobody Asked For


Khaki Mission Creep: The Army, the Princess, and the Border Wall Nobody Asked For

The Thai-Cambodian border is being fortified—but not by parliamentary mandate, not by civilian request, and not even by the original royal instruction. 

What began as a Royal call for citizen emergency bunkers has morphed into a full-blown wall project, steered by the First Army Region under the banner of royal duty. 

The mission has crept. The oversight has vanished.

From Bunkers to Border Wall: A Manufactured Mandate

On Tuesday, the Bangkok Post reports, Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn Krom Phra Srisavangavadhana granted an audience to army chief Gen Pana Klaoplodthuk. The army reported on safety projects under the Hataitip Fund, a royal initiative housed within her Chulabhorn Foundation. The princess expressed concern for soldiers and civilians in border zones and requested the acceleration of defensive bunkers and emergency shelters.

Nowhere in that request was a border wall mentioned and the emphasis was citizen welfare not military logistics.

Yet within 48 hours, the First Army Region—self-described as the “army of the Royal Guards” and the title as an excuse—announced plans to build a “Thai-Cambodian border wall" at c.8M baht per km. 

And said wall bizarrely only in demarcated not disputed areas and in Chanthaburi where there was no conflict.

The language shifted. The mission expanded. And the army, without cabinet approval or parliamentary debate, began field surveys and site selection.

The Budget That Isn’t a Budget

The Hataitip Fund is presented as a royal-charity initiative. But its funding streams are murky. While technically under the Chulabhorn Foundation, the fund draws heavily from public donations ie government agency contributions, and military sourcing. It is not a private purse. It is a hybrid fund—part royal, part public, part khaki. Which in effect is all public and since 1932 under the purview of parliament.

This matters. 

Because the First Army Region is now dipping into this fund to begin constructing 72 military bunkers and just six civilian shelters in its initial phase. The full plan? 799 bunkers and 173 shelters across the Suranaree and Burapha Task Force zones. That’s a military-first buildout, funded outside the formal army budget, and executed without any parliamentary scrutiny.

Need or value for the project aside, the scope for corruption and blowback onto the royals and army itself is huge from such opaque funds and scrutiny.

UK is facing such questions with murk around the scale and use of the Duchy Funds, and cash-for-honours-for-castles with King Chuck receiving Waitrose bags of cash for a secret knighthood(!) to a UAE sheikh. The cash used to repair his castle separate to approved public/parliament funds hence the workaround of selling honours - banned by parliament for over a century.

While rumours swirl over disgraced Prince Andrew and Fergie with their Epstein links, profligate spending and mystery £10M Swiss chalet and use of public/royal houses and palaces.

Similarly the RAF under pressure to explain, as part of the quarterly/annual Royal Accounts, how military helicopters are being used as royal taxis or trained officers used as royal butlers.

Backroom Briefings, Not Cabinet Approval

Tuesday’s audience wasn’t ceremonial. It was operational. Gen Anupap Sirimonton, head of the army’s general staff overseeing the Hataitip Fund, somehow presented detailed implementation plans to the princess' request there and then. 

These weren’t drafts. They were blueprints. The army had already conducted surveys, identified sites, and scoped costs.

This wasn’t a royal request—it was a briefing on a pre-baked plan emerging from backroom decisions with opaque funds without any public scrutiny. The princess’s concern was real. But the army’s response was preloaded. The wall, the bunkers, the shelters—they were already in motion. The royal audience became a rubber stamp, not a trigger for the project.

PM Anutin presumably now scurrying around trying to find out what is happening at the border in order to report to parliament what is happening on his watch?

1932 in Reverse? Royals outside Parliament and Army in Command

Thailand’s 1932 revolution ended absolute monarchy and installed parliamentary governance. But this border wall saga reads like a reversal. The army invokes royal duty to bypass civilian oversight. The royals are briefed on military plans before parliament is. And the Hataitip Fund—sourced partly from public money—is used to execute military infrastructure without any legislative approval.

This isn’t just mission creep. It’s governance creep.

The First Army Region is acting as if it holds dual authority: military executor and royal proxy. It assumes that a royal concern equals a green light. It treats public funds as flexible. And it builds bunkers and walls as if parliament is an optional extra.

What Needs to Happen Now

  • FOIA and budget transparency: Parliament demands full disclosure of Hataitip Fund sources, disbursements, and military allocations. Which government agency funds are being siphoned off into such funds? On whose authority? And with what reporting?

  • Parliamentary review: Require all military infrastructure projects—especially those using hybrid funds—to be tabled in parliament.

  • Civilian-first rebalancing: Flip the ratio. If 799 bunkers are planned, there must be at least 799 civilian shelters. Anything less is khaki-first governance with public funds.

  • Legal clarification: Define the limits of royal requests in operational military planning. A concern is not a command. A briefing is not a mandate. 1932 was clear that Parliament is sovereign.

Conclusion: The Wall Is Not the Point

In all sincerity, this isn’t about whether a wall is good or bad. It’s about how it’s being built, who is authorising it, and what it reveals about the erosion of civilian oversight. The army is skipping along, doing what it likes, it seems, invoking royal concern as cover, and bypassing the very structures that 1932 was meant to protect.

The wall is just concrete. The real structure being built is one of unaccountable power.

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