Not the golf courses

When Thai politics argues about the military’s business, it argues about golf courses. Also boxing stadiums, resorts by the sea, petrol stations and weekend markets on camp land. Those are real, and since 2020 the rules for them have been tightened.

By the Army’s own figures, they are a sliver. The Army’s table of its own land, given to a House committee in November 2023, puts about 10,000 rai under “welfare”. It puts about 1.18 million rai — a quarter of everything it holds — under civilians who live on it or farm it without the Army’s permission. Since 2023 the armed forces have released, or begun releasing, land for lease equal to about 6% of what the Defence Ministry says civilians occupy.

Whose land it is

Most of what the armed forces hold is Treasury land (ที่ราชพัสดุ). Under the Treasury Land Act of 2019 (section 6) that is immovable state property of every kind, and land reserved for the state or for official use, with exceptions listed in section 7 — public land for common use among them. Section 8 makes the Ministry of Finance the owner and the Treasury Department its manager.

An agency does not own the Treasury land it uses. Section 19 lets a government agency use it for official purposes after stating the purpose and reaching an agreement with the Treasury. Section 20 requires the agency to use it as agreed, maintain it, guard it against encroachment, and report on it. A change of purpose needs a new agreement (section 21).

The Act gives the Treasury a recall power. Under section 22 it may take land back when the agency stops using it, occupies it without permission, fails its section 20 or 21 duties, or does not use it within three years of the agreement. If an agency will not return land, the Treasury Land Committee decides.

Letting is for the Finance Ministry. Section 24 lets the ministry let out Treasury land an agency holds but is not using. Section 26 requires any letting to be by lease or other contract with the Ministry of Finance. Section 25 lists what letting may be for, and it includes “the welfare of civil servants”.

Not all of the Army’s land is Treasury land. Of the 4.75 million rai in its 2023 table, 4.09 million is Treasury land; about 663,000 rai is borrowed from other agencies (mostly forest land) and 1,339 rai is rented.

How much there is

There is no single figure. Five have been published:

These do not reconcile, and they should not be divided into one another. Some count only Treasury land, some all land; some cover three services, some the whole ministry, one the Army alone. The most quoted — “about half of all Treasury land” — comes from a paper whose own table adds to less. (This site’s arithmetic: the table’s Treasury-land column sums to about 4.29 million rai.) The Treasury, which owns the land, has not published a breakdown by ministry that this site could find.

On the Defence Ministry’s own 2024 figure, the armed forces hold about 9,400 square kilometres — roughly six times the area of Bangkok. (This site’s arithmetic, at 1,600 square metres to the rai.)

What the Army’s land is used for

The Army’s November 2023 table, given to the House military affairs committee and reproduced by a Chulalongkorn University political scientist in The 101 World, divides its 4.75 million rai by use:

(Rai rounded from the Army’s rai-ngan-wa figures; shares are this site’s arithmetic.)

Two lines carry the story. Training land is more than half. Civilians occupy 1.18 million rai — about a quarter. The Army calls them encroachers; many say they were there before the land was the Army’s.

The table does not say where the Army’s 40 golf courses are counted — under welfare, or inside the unit sites and training areas they sit in. So the 10,179 rai is not a measure of golf. What it shows is the scale of the argument: the businesses are a small part of a very large holding.

The businesses: what the rules allow

Military welfare businesses run under the same rules as any government agency’s. The Prime Minister’s Office Regulation on Internal Welfare of 2004 lets each agency set up a welfare committee and a welfare fund for its staff — savings, loans, housing, sport, shops and the like.

It defines “business welfare” as welfare that trades with the general public, and bars it unless it is internal welfare, for the agency’s benefit, under criteria the Civil Service Welfare Committee sets (clause 6). The head of an agency may approve the use of government land and buildings for welfare (clause 17). Repairs come from the welfare fund first, and from the agency’s budget if the fund falls short.

The money is accounted for inside the agency. Each welfare fund is kept apart from the agency’s other money (clause 18). Monthly statements go to the welfare committee; annual accounts are audited by the agency’s own internal auditor or a qualified person the committee appoints (clause 24); and the audited results are published to the members (clause 25). Nothing in the regulation requires them to be published to the public.

The Civil Service Welfare Committee’s criteria of 8 July 2005 add conditions. Business welfare must run on land or buildings the agency holds, with approval to use them from the head of the agency or the Treasury Department under the law; carry low investment risk; not harm the agency’s work; charge fair prices; and pay all its revenue into the welfare fund before expenses.

Its accompanying clarification does three things:

• It allows sports and exercise venues, fuel sales, tourist services and resorts, transport, shops, markets, clinics, laundries and barbers, and lets business welfare serve more outsiders than members.
• It rules out renting buildings or premises to private businesses, department stores, property development, factories, shareholdings, bars and casinos.
• It says business welfare is meant for small activities: “large enterprises, or enterprises that are genuinely businesses, are not business welfare” under the committee’s criteria.

None of the documents read defines “large” — in rai, in baht or in customers. In December 2024 the Defence Ministry described its 152 biggest welfare enterprises as large (กิจการสวัสดิการขนาดใหญ่). No published ruling squares the two.

What changed in 2020

On 17 February 2020 the Army and the Treasury signed a memorandum on the Army’s business welfare. As explained at the signing:

• An enterprise whose customers are more than half outsiders counts as business welfare, and moves onto terms with the Treasury.
• The Army would submit about 40 enterprises at first: petrol stations, shops and markets, clubs, boxing stadiums, golf courses, a racecourse and resorts.
• The Treasury, not the Army, would collect rent from people farming Army land.
• Convenience stores on Army land already leased directly from the Treasury.
• The Army put the enterprises’ combined revenue at under ฿1 billion a year.

Progress was slow. The Army’s own status report of 12 February 2024, given to the House committee on transferring military businesses, listed 60 enterprises in the scheme:

(Grouping by type is this site’s count of the Army’s list as reproduced.) By that count, 25 of the Army’s 40 golf courses were on the business list, and 18 of them were still waiting for rent four years after the memorandum.

Ordinary enterprises such as petrol stations and markets pay the Treasury rent and fees at its set rates. For the special class — golf courses, resorts, boxing — the Army told the committee it had agreed to pay 2% to 5% of revenue before expenses, depending on the enterprise. Four of its resorts and golf courses are run by a hotel company, with 2.5% going to the Treasury. According to the series that reproduced the Army’s documents, the Army did not give the committee revenue or spending figures, while the other services and the ministry’s headquarters units gave totals. No total has been published.

In December 2024 the Defence Ministry gave the wider picture. It counted 152 large welfare enterprises across the ministry and the services — golf courses, petrol stations, resorts, markets. 86 are business welfare and have signed Treasury lease agreements. 66 stay internal welfare, the ministry said, because they sit inside units, off main roads, serve mostly personnel and keep hours close to office hours. Internal welfare pays no rent under the rules.

The land people live on

The Defence Ministry’s December 2024 statement is the clearest official account. About 1.2 million rai is used by people without permission — some already leased, some still going through rights verification. If verification shows people were there before the land became state land, the ministry says they can get title documents. If not, they can apply to lease from the Treasury in areas the armed forces are not using.

It also set out the limit. Besides unit sites and training grounds, the forces need land for training under the national defence plan — artillery manoeuvres, exercises at combined-regiment scale, and rear areas held in reserve. The Army, the ministry said, must keep such land for future use.

The release programme began in late 2023, after the new government asked the armed forces to find land they were not using. In October 2023 the Army’s commander said the Army had tried to hand back about 50,000 rai in 2009 but regulations had prevented it, and announced the first sites:

• Nong Wua So, Udon Thani — a model scheme of 9,276 rai, to be handed to residents by 25 December 2023.
• About 2,300 rai of Armed Forces headquarters land in Kanchanaburi.
• About 300 rai of Navy land in Samut Prakan.
• About 500 rai at an Air Force airfield in Nakhon Phanom.

By the ministry’s account, in fiscal year 2024 the services let the Treasury lease out more than 16,000 rai for housing and farming, and a second phase of about 59,000 rai was under way. Together that is about 75,000 rai — about 6% of the 1.2 million rai occupied. (This site’s arithmetic; the second phase was not complete when reported, and the released land is not necessarily all occupied land.)

The terms are a lease, not ownership. In March 2024 the chair of the House land committee said villagers at Nong Wua So had complained that the scheme was unfair: they were being made to lease land despite evidence they had been there first. That was a complaint, not a finding; the ministry’s stated position is that people who prove earlier occupation can get title.

Section 22 lets the Treasury take back land an agency is not using. This site found no report of it being used against a service. The releases so far have been described as land the services agreed to let the Treasury lease, not land recalled.

What this adds up to

The business question got a reform. Since 2020 there has been a test (more than half outsiders), a route (Treasury leases), and rent or a revenue share (2% to 5% of gross for the larger enterprises). It has been slow and partial, its revenue figures are not public, and the civil-service rule that “large” enterprises are not business welfare has not been reconciled with the ministry’s own description of its enterprises as large. But it exists.

The land question is bigger, and has had less. By the Army’s own table, training takes more than half its land and civilians occupy a quarter. Releases so far equal about 6% of the occupied area, on leases, with title only for those who can prove they came first.

Underneath both is a number nobody agrees on. The Treasury owns the land in law. The published totals range from 4.75 million rai for the Army alone to 7.5 million for the three services, and the most-quoted share — half of all Treasury land — rests on a paper whose own table adds to less.

None of this says the armed forces hold too much land for training. That is a defence judgement the ministry has explained. It says that the argument has been about the smallest part of the holding, and that the part where people actually live has moved at a fraction of the pace.

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Common misconceptions

“The army owns its land.” Most of it is Treasury land, owned by the Ministry of Finance and used by the Army under agreement with the Treasury Department. Some is borrowed from other agencies, mostly forest land.

“Military golf courses pay nothing.” Since 2020, those classed as business welfare are meant to move onto Treasury terms and pay a share of revenue. In February 2024 the Army’s own list showed 7 golf courses converted and 18 waiting. Those classed as internal welfare pay no rent under the rules.

“The military holds half of Thailand’s state land.” That figure is half of Treasury land, from a 2022 paper whose own table adds to less. Forest reserves, agricultural reform land and public land for common use are generally separate categories of state land.

“Released military land is given to the people living on it.” It is leased to them by the Treasury. Title is possible only where people prove they were there before the land became state land.