Kowit Wattana (; born 11 March 1947 in Phak Hai) is a Thai Police General and politician. From 2004 to 2007 he was the Commissioner-General of the

Royal Thai Police The Royal Thai Police (RTP) (; ) is the national police force of Thailand. The RTP employs between 210,700 and 230,000 officers, roughly 17 percent of all civil servants (excluding the military and the employees of state-owned enterprises). The R ...

. In 2008, he was Minister of the Interior, and from 2011 to 2012 Deputy Prime Minister under Yingluck Shinawatra. Kowit is a member of the ruling

Pheu Thai Party The Pheu Thai Party (PT or PTP; , ) is a major conservative populist list of political parties in Thailand, political party in Thailand. It is the third incarnation of the Thai Rak Thai Party, a political party founded by former Prime Minister ...

Early life and police service

Kowit Wattana's father was a teacher and prefect of Phak Hai District. Kowit graduated from the

Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School The Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School or AFAPS (Thai: โรงเรียนเตรียมทหาร) is a senior high school in Nakhon Nayok Province. It is a flagship institution of the Royal Thai Armed Forces Headquarters. The c ...

(class 6) and the Royal Thai Police Cadet Academy (class 22). He started his career in public service as an officer of the

Border Patrol Police The Border Patrol Police (; (BPP) is a Thai paramilitary police under the jurisdiction of the Royal Thai Police, responsible for border security, counterinsurgency, disaster relief, law enforcement, operating in difficult terrain, and supporting ...

. He served in this paramilitary unit for 27 years. From 1970 to 1975 he was on the Border Patrol Police special company fighting the communist insurgency in Thailand. Later he commanded the troops responsible for a section of the Thai- Burmese border. Later he was leader of the Border Patrol Police in the whole northern sector. In this position his main challenges were fighting drug-related crime, shutting down several

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

factories in

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, second largest city in Thailan ...

Chiang Rai Chiang Rai (, ; , ) is the northernmost major city in Thailand, with a population of about 200,000 people. It is located in Mueang Chiang Rai District, Chiang Rai Province. Chiang Rai was established as a capital city in the reign of King Ma ...

, Phayao and Mae Hong Son, and

counter-insurgency Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the ac ...

. In 1994, he was promoted to national commander of the Border Patrol. In 2004, he was named Commissioner-General of the

Political career

Following the 2006 coup d'état, Kowit was named third deputy chief of the

Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy The Council for National Security (; ; abbreviated CNS (), was the military junta that ruled Thailand between its 2006 Thai coup d'état, coup d'état against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on 19 September 2006 until the later coup d'état on ...

. On 22 September, the council gave Police General Wattana absolute power over all police matters. He was also made Chair of a new National Police Commission. The commission will be assigned to amend the 2004 National Police Bill over the next year; the bill had been originally been approved by the elected parliament. Under the pre-coup legal framework, the premier had been responsible for chairing the commission. So far, two members of the new police commission have been announced, Pol Gen Phatcharawat Wongsuwan and Pol Gen Issaraphan Sanitwong. He was replaced by Seripisut Temiyavet in 2007. There was speculation about the motivation behind the replacement, as Kowit had earlier arrested several military personnel for alleged involvement in the 2006 Bangkok New Year's Eve bombings. On 2 August 2008, Kowit Wattana was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, replacing Chalerm Yubamrung for the latter position. On 24 September 2008, Kowit was appointed Minister of Interior in Somchai Wongsawat's cabinet, serving until the government broke apart on 2 December 2008. He is an executive member of the

, successor of the dissolved and banned People's Power Party. In September 2010 he was expected to replace Yongyuth Wichaidit as the party's chairman, but he demurred and asked Yongyuth to carry on. On 9 August 2011, Kowit was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in Yingluck Shinawatra's cabinet. He resigned from the office due to a major reshuffle of the Yingluck cabinet on 18 January 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wattana, Kowit Kowit Wattana Living people Kowit Wattana Kowit Wattana Kowit Wattana Kowit Wattana 1947 births Kowit Wattana