(photo Hiya)
| Punishment has
always belonged to the military. When a soldier has made a mistake that
breaks
the rules or doesn’t follow the Commander’s orders, punishment is the
last
thing to control him. In punishing, the military’s offender immediately
receives a physical punishment, such as doing push-ups, running or
fatigues. However, when the offender makes a big mistake, for example
he left the
barracks without the officer’s permission, or stole someone’s money, he
will be sentenced to prison. The Royal Thai Naval Academy is a military school, responsible for training naval cadets to be the best officers in the Royal Thai Navy. Everyone starts with a conduct score of 200 points. When somebody makes a mistake that cuts his score more than 25 points, he will be sent to the prison under the Phuti-Anan Convention Hall. He has to wear a prison uniform with the Thai letter “ท “ in red, which means “offender”. The time to stay in prison depends on the score. When it is cut about 25-35 points, he will stay 3 days, about 36-45 points it would be 5 days and more than 46 points would be 7 days. If he is cut over 80 points, he will fail that year, and more than 120 points he will be fired. The prison is a closed room and the prisoner can not go out by himself. If the guard doesn’t unlock the door and take him outside, he will not be able to know what happens around him. Everyone who has been a prisoner says “This is the worst experience in my life and this will be the last time in my life I’ll go to prison”. |
| References: None. Last update: Humanities Department, October 2004. |
