Lawmakers Challenge Military Budget for Stupa Construction

On September 7, 2026, during the National Assembly's deliberation of the 2570 fiscal year budget bill (article 8, Defense Ministry section), opposition parliamentarian Petcharat Maichomphu of the Pheu Thai Party, speaking on behalf of the minority committee, called for a reduction in the Defense Ministry budget allocated to activities unrelated to military duties. She highlighted concerns that the Royal Thai Air Force is undertaking a stupa construction project containing the Buddha's relics as a new binding project, budgeted at 41.7 million baht for fiscal year 2570 and requesting an additional 236.2 million baht for 2571, totaling 277.9 million baht. Petcharat questioned whether this is a legitimate Defense Ministry function, noting that if the nearly 280 million baht were redirected to increase elderly welfare payments from 600 baht to 1,000 baht, it could benefit 700,000 people.

Petcharat further identified three additional Armed Forces headquarters projects that she said encroach on the duties of other agencies: 1) Rural road construction and improvement for 466 projects budgeted at 850 million baht, claimed as border-region work but appearing to duplicate the Rural Roads Department's functions; 2) an agricultural and livestock promotion project for 22.88 million baht using military personnel to conduct plant and animal breeding and livestock semen extraction; and 3) a village fisheries project for 3.6 million baht deploying military personnel for aquaculture breeding, questioning why the Fisheries Department should not handle such work instead.