LTG Pongskorn is a retired military officer and a member of Class 14 of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School. He is a former Deputy Secretary-General in the Office of the National Security Council and a former advisor to the Prime Minister under the Secretariat of the Prime Minister. LTG Pongskorn is a self-defined centre-left social democrat. He has personally expressed concerns with his superiors regarding the involvement of the army in the ‘Black May’ 1992 incident and has also publicly opposed the 2006 coup d’état. He has experience working in the Parliament, serving as a member of the subcommittee for constitutional amendments and other various committees. After his retirement, he worked on educating the public on politics, public policies, and national security through media, newspapers, radio, television shows as well as giving talks at educational events.
Profile
LTG Pongskorn was born on 11 October, 1955. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy (1978) and Bachelor of Laws from Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University. He holds a Master of Economics from the School of Development Economics of the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) and a Master of Arts in Politics (Military Studies) from the Command and General Staff College (1991). He also holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science from Chulalongkorn University (1998). In addition to these academic achievements, he was also awarded several certificates and diplomas, including a Diploma in Integrated Rural Regional Development Planning (first in class) from the Settlement Study Centre, Israel (1985), a Certificate in Initiatives in Conflict Management: Planning for Civil-Military Cooperation Executive Program from Harvard University, USA. He also holds a Certificate in Logistic and Business Management from the University of North Carolina, USA.
LTG Pongskorn has an extensive military career, having held at least 10 different posts as he climbed through the ranks in the military. This includes the ranks of Commander of the 1st Development Division, Director of the Policy & Planning Division pf the Directorate of Civil Affairs, Senior Advisor to the Royal Thai Army, and Assistant Staff Officer for the Minister of Defence. During his time in the military, he has proposed using regression equations to improve the accuracy of target shooting exercises. He also served in the Total Defence Development Committee for civilian training and Eastern region defence. He also was Advisor to the Director of Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4, working on the issue of the South Thailand Insurgency.
LTG Pongskorn was a visiting professor at Pathumthani University, Eastern Asia University, Kasetsart University, and Chulalongkorn University, and has written academic reports to The Secretariat of the House of Representatives. He scored first in class in Ranger course at the Special Warfare School (1977) and was also awarded the Freeman Safeguarding Medal in 1986 and The Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant.
Why Future Forward
LTG Pongskorn chose to enter politics because he believes that his expertise which spans comparative and developmental politics, economics, law, international relations, European studies, public policy and public administration can be useful to the Future Forward Party.
He takes interests in the issue of constitutional reform and political participation. He is a believer in democracy and believes in better distribution of income, power, and opportunities. He also believes that only free and fair competition, high quality healthcare, international education standard and access to capital will lead to an equality of opportunities. Through the improvement of all these areas, he hopes that future generations of Thais will be able to enjoy a quality of life similar to that of European countries. These ambitious goals rely on political work that aims to give the power back to the majority, allowing citizens to have a stake in defining the rules and laws that govern them in a free and fair manner.
Fun Facts
LTG Pongskorn likes to read and research about general knowledge, science, philosophy, political science, economics, finance, sociology, history, culture, civilisation, human and animal evolution, and technology. He enjoys sci-fi and cartoon movies, as well as classical music and opera. He especially like reading the works of Alvin Toffler.
He is a devoted Buddhist and regularly studies Buddhist scriptures.
