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Vol 1. No 4. December, 1998
Draft Dodging Katoey-Style
Bangkok - Don't think you can just put on a frock and swish about and be exempt from conscription if your name comes up next month. The Thai Army warned in December that it is onto the old "phoney katoey" scam used by some conscripts to avoid army service.
"Our drafting officers have come up with ways to determine who are real katoeys and who are fake. Just don't try it," said Maj Gen Banjob Jupawang, chief of the Reserve Affairs Department. He did not elaborate, saying only that the Army had been well aware of the tactic in the past.
He said the Army had a policy of rejecting katoeys because "we don't want turmoil in our force." The "turmoil" can begin as early as draft day, with katoeys refusing to undress for physical examinations and not allowing draft officers to measure their chests.
"It's not that we discriminate. But those people belong in beauty parlours, movie studios and bars. We'd better sacrifice them for the sake of peace in the Army."
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