Bangkok, Deputy Commander Kaoklai insists that he is not an enemy of the army. Just focus on cutting the budget. The Navy has a reason to buy frigates. Specify until you can request a new one. There are only 3 patrol boats left from the required 8 boats. I suspect that the government committee is rushing to cut the budget at the end of the day.Ms. Sirikanya Tansakul, Committee Member for Consideration of the Draft Budget Act for Fiscal Year 2024 and Deputy Leader of the Progress Party Admit that the Progressive Party supports returning the appeal of the budget for the purchase of frigates to the Navy. After the subcommittee Cut this part of the budget. Because after listening to the reasons from the Navy Recognizes that frigates are fundamentally necessary to protect the waters. Which requires up to 8 ships, but today there are 4 ships and 1 ship is about to be scrapped. Even if the procurement is approved for the fiscal year 2024, there will likely be a period in which we have only 3 frigates left in serv ice.'Because previously the Navy was distracted by requesting approval to purchase a submarine. This is really more than necessary and the opposition has always fought. Therefore, it is considered necessary to purchase frigates. which is much more necessary than a submarine In fact, this year there was no problem of insufficient budget for purchasing. But I don't understand that that's not enough. Does that mean it's not enough to share or what? Because the opposition does not see the problem of insufficient budget,' said the deputy leader of the Kao Klai Party.When asked if he found anything strange? Ms. Sirikanya said that there were attempts by the government to rush to cut the budget at the end of the sub-committee meeting for many projects, as if the wrong cuts were made and had to be returned later, quite a lot, such as the airport's second runway project. Navy U-Tapao I understood from the beginning that this project It is a project that requires borrowing money from abroad. And it is necessary to approve the 2024 budget in order to pass the loan. There is a committee. to cut down on this project But in the end, I had to request a withdrawal, not a cut, which I'm not sure if there was a reason for rushing to cut it at the end. Or there may be a goal that the budget must be cut to meet the target or not.The deputy leader of the Progressive Party said that these things will be discussed and noted by the opposition during the consideration of agendas 2 and 3 because the budget that was cut even though it did not go into the central budget 100%, all 9,000 million baht, will be Only approximately 1,000 million baht will be transferred to the central budget. which was different from what was expected. But there are also items such as Civil servant medical expenses Pension annuities, which these 2 lump sums total approximately 7 billion baht, which if approved to increase them now, means that there will be less central budget to use as well. It is therefore an observation that we must continue to follow up on how the budget is used. However, there is still no information or evidence confirming that something strange has occurred.'We are not enemies with the army. I didn't just insist on fighting with him. Whichever one makes sense, we approve. Which is still confusing. Everyone in the conference room is confused that the opposition is acting like the government. As for the government, it acts like the opposition," Ms. Sirikanya said.Source: Thai News Agency