A final tribute for Ja Pien
By General Harn Leenanond
It is a wellknown fact in the khakhi-coloured uniform (police) circle that one has to bring with him a wad of cash if he wants to be transferred (to a better position). But Ja Pien or the late Pol Col Sompien Eksomya was empty-handed when he appealed his boss for his transfer.
Hence his appeal fell short of his boss’s receptive ears even though Ja Pien did not ask for a promotion but simply wanted to be moved to Kantang district while still retaining his position as the district police superintendent where he would be able to stay away from the daily gunfires, bomb explositions and violent deaths.
Ja Pien asked to be transferred because he felt unbearably tired. He had only 18 moths to serve out before his mandatory retirement and had wanted to be with his wife and children because he had spent almost the entire life in the service fighting against bandits and insurgents. With a record of outstanding performance since 1976, he was awarded the Rammala Khemkhla Klangsamorn medal by His Majesty the King in 1982. Only a handful of police officers have been awarded with such an honour.
Despite his outstanding performance, Ja Pien had never been transferred out of the three violence-prone southernmost provinces. On three occastions, he was moved back to Bannang Sata district with his last position being the police superintendent until his recent death in an insurgents’ bomb explosion.
I myself was in close contact with Ja Pien during the years 2000-2006 when I was the chairman of the Senate military affairs committee. But since the incident on January 4, 2004 when insurgents raided an army armoury in Jo-Airong district of Narathiwat, not a day had gone by without the name of Pol Col Sompien Eksomya being mentioned for getting out in the field to investigate whenever there was a shooting or bombing incident.
Ja Pien preferred to pursue suspected criminals or insurgents on foot and sometimes he walked day and night. Exhausted though, this approach had made his men safe and his missions were mostly successful with minimum loss of life.
It is not an overstatement to say that Ja Pien’s working record vis-à-vis ordinary criminals and southern insurgents is unparallel. He had recorded 22 kills throughout his career and was injured nine times with a crippled leg which earned him the nickname of “Steel-legged Ja Pien”.
Even a machine has to stop operating occasionally for repairs. But Ja Pien had never had a rest t be with his family. He knew he was tired and could not go on fighting although his heart said otherwise.
As if there were a hunch that death was approaching. Or he might have a dream that the Lord of Death was seeking his help to prepare a list of phuyai in the police force who have demanded tea money from their men in exchange for their promotions.
As he knew that, one day, he might be killed, Ja Pien started writing a report asking to be transferred out of the far South so that someone would be appointed to replace him. But it turned out that his transfer appeal was about an appeal to spare his life so he would be able to be with his family.
Unfortuanly, by the time Ja Pien wrote his appeal of the transfer, the position in Kantang district that he had wanted had already been “booked” by a politician. The Lord of Death wasted no time in summoning Ja Pien to the heaven on March 12. It was then after Ja Pien’s death that the police force acknowledged his merits.
“Sleep well people, I will protect you.” This voice of Ja Pien is still resonating among the Ja Pien’s beloved people of Bannang Sata district.