Chavalit Yongchaiyudh

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Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, 2018

Chavalit Yongchaiyudh ( Thai ชวลิต ยง ใจ ยุทธ , RTGS : Chawalit Yongchaiyut, pronunciation: [ ʨʰáwálít joŋʨajjút ]; born May 15, 1932 in Nonthaburi ) is a Thai politician and retired general . From 1986 to 1990 he was supreme commander of the army, from 1987 to 1990 he was also supreme commander of the armed forces. He then headed the New Hope Party from 1990 to 2002 and was Prime Minister of Thailand from 1996 to 1997 . In the military and in the press he is also referred to by his nickname "Big Jiew".

Education and military career

Chavalit is the son of an infantry captain. He attended Triam Udom Suksa School (a university preparatory school) and graduated from Chulachomklao Military Academy . From 1953 he first served as a lieutenant in the telecommunications force of the Thai army . His military training took place in the United States at the Signal Corps School of the US Army, Fort Monmouth, the IX Corps of the US Army on Okinawa ( Ryukyu , Japan ) and the Telecommunications School of the Thai Army.

In 1963 he graduated from the General Staff School of the Thai Army. The following year he also graduated from the US Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth , Kansas. During the 1960s and 70s, Chavalit was deployed to fight the uprising of the Communist Party of Thailand (KPT) and its “People's Liberation Army” in the Thai jungles. He also prepared Thai soldiers for their battle in the Vietnam War . In the period after the popular uprising in October 1973 , Chavalit was included in the group of " Democratic Soldiers ", even if he did not publicly identify himself as a member.

In 1979 he was promoted to major general and director of operations in the Army. Chavalit was one of the military leaders who believed that the communists could not be beaten by purely military means, but that the political, economic and social causes of the uprising had to be fought in order to deprive them of popular support. He is considered one of the architects of Cabinet Resolutions 66/2523 (1980) and 65/2525 (1982), with which the government of General Prem Tinsulanonda made this concept part of their policy and supporters of the KPT who gave up the fight against the state, amnesty and offered a return to civil life. Both contributed significantly to the decline of the KPT and the end of its uprising. With the intention of defeating the communist guerrillas with their own methods, Chavalit also initiated the Thahan Phran ("Ranger Units", literally translated as "hunter-soldiers") in 1982 : paramilitary units of the government who fought with guerrilla tactics.

In October 1982 he was promoted to lieutenant general and assistant to the chief of staff, and the following year he was appointed deputy chief of staff of the army. In 1985 he became chief of staff himself. Chavalit's rapid rise to the immediate head of the land forces was unusual for a communications officer, as the leadership positions were traditionally reserved for infantrymen, artillerymen and "cavalrymen" (i.e. tank soldiers). His extraordinary career can be attributed in large part to his close relationship with Prime Minister Prem, whose mainstay in the military he was, but also to his brilliance, both in the military-strategic and political spheres.

In 1986, Chavalit was promoted to commander in chief of the army, and in the following year he also became supreme commander of the entire armed forces. Under his leadership, the army pushed ahead regional development projects: Isan Khiao ("Green Isan ") in the backward northeast and Khwam Wang Mai ("New Hope") in the conflict- ridden southern provinces. These corresponded to the idea of ​​the former “Democratic Soldiers” and the resolution No. 66/2523 that economic development and the reduction of regional imbalances were also tasks of national security and thus of the army. In implementing these, Chavalit relied on cooperation with large companies, for which he obtained lucrative government contracts. The intensive relationship between him and the Charoen Pokphand Group (CP), an influential agricultural and conglomerate group led by Dhanin Chearavanont , can also be traced back to this cooperation .

From 1989, Chavalit supported the anti-AIDS campaign of Senator Mechai Viravaidya and his Society for Population and Community Development (PDA) by providing three years of airtime for educational programs on the 326 army-run radio stations and two television stations ( channels 5 and 7 ) provided. In 1990 he retired from military service at the age of 58.

Political activity

Chavalit is a Buddhist, but he is married to a Muslim Indonesian and was therefore long associated with the Wahdah lobby founded by Wan Noor .

Even during his active service in the military, Chavalit was also politically active. During the so-called "semi-democratic" phase he was appointed a member of the Senate in 1984 and 1987 . His publicly expressed proposal in 1987 to have the prime minister elected directly by the people brought him the charge of wanting to undermine the role of the king. As a result, he was politically discredited for a short time. In 1988 he became Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister in the government of Chatichai Choonhavan . In 1990 he founded the New Hope Party (NAP), which he wanted to develop into a dominant state party based on the model of Suhartos Golkar in Indonesia. In doing so, he was able to rely on the support of the Charoen Pokphand group, which is closely related to him. Chavalit used the contacts from his time as army chief and head of the “Green Isan” development program to recruit local leaders in the Northeast, former military personnel and civil servants for the party.

After the parliamentary elections in March 1992, he moved into the House of Representatives as a constituency member for Nonthaburi Province . As chairman of the largest party that was not part of the ruling coalition, he was sworn in as the official opposition leader . After early elections in September 1992, the NAP then belonged to the governing coalition. Chavalit was Interior Minister under Chuan Leekpai until 1994 , and between 1995 and 1996 again Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister in the cabinet of Banharn Silpa-archa .

On November 17, 1996, Chavalit's New Hope party won the national general election. Chavalit formed a coalition of six parties and was appointed Prime Minister on November 25, 1996 by King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) . On November 6, 1997, he had to resign under pressure from numerous forces, among other things because of the desperate economic situation in the country after the Asian financial crisis . Subsequently, his party lost massively in popularity and also the support of the CP group, which turned to Thaksin Shinawatra and his new Thai-Rak-Thai party (TRT). In 2001 Chavalit joined the TRT with most of his party.

From 2001 to 2005, Chavalit was Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister in the government of Thaksin Shinawatra. As the person responsible for internal security, on April 28, 2004, he ordered suspected Islamic rebels who had holed up in the Krue-Se mosque in Pattani to surrender through negotiations. The local commanding General Pallop Pinmanee , on the other hand, stormed the mosque, killing all 32 government opponents. The conflict then escalated in southern Thailand . Chavalit then operated the transfer of General Pallop. In September 2008, Chavalit was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in Somchai Wongsawat's government, but resigned from his post a few weeks later after serious rioting during protests against the Thai government in Bangkok.

After the 2006 coup and the overthrow of Thaksin, his Thai-Rak-Thai party (TRT) broke up and, like its successor party, was banned. After he had refused to participate in the Muslim Matubhum party, which is closely related to the coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin , Chavalit joined the Pheu Thai party , another TRT successor party , in October 2009 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bangkok Post, November 4, 2009: 'Big Jiew' plays Muslim card
  2. ↑ Chavalit Yongchaiyudh , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 07/1998 of February 2, 1998, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
  3. ↑ Suchit Bunbongkarn: The Military in Thai Politics, 1981-1986. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 1987, pp. 14, 21.
  4. ↑ a b c Suchit Bunbongkarn: The Military in Thai Politics. 1987, p. 108.
  5. ↑
    • Suchit Bunbongkarn: The Military in Thai Politics. 1987, pp. 15-16, 21.
    • Marco Bünte: Problems of democratic consolidation in Thailand. Announcements from the Institute for Asian Studies, Hamburg 2000, p. 80.
    • John Girling: Interpreting Development. Capitalism, Democracy, and the Middle Class in Thailand. Cornell Southeast Asia Program, Ithaca NY 1996, p. 28.
    • Surin Maisrikrod: Thailand's Two General Elections in 1992. Democracy Sustained. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 1992, pp. 9-10.
  6. ↑ Alex P. Schmid, Albert J. Jongman: Political Terrorism. Transaction Publishers, 2005, p. 672, entry "Ranger Units".
  7. ↑ Suchit Bunbongkarn: The Military in Thai Politics. 1987, pp. 9, 21.
  8. ↑ James Ockey: Thailand. The Struggle to Redefine Civil-Military Relations. In: Coercion and Governance. The Declining Political Role of the Military in Asia. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA, 2001, p. 197.
  9. ^ Gerald W. Fry: Old images and new realities. Thailand's political economy. In: Harvard International Review , Volume 11, No. 1, November 1988, p. 33. Also reprinted in Fry: Thailand and Its Neighbors. Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 2005, pp. 20-21.
  10. ↑ Duncan McCargo , Ukrist Pathamanand: The Thaksinization of Thailand. NIAS Press, Copenhagen 2005, p. 33.
  11. ↑ Thomas D'Agnes: From condoms to cabbages. An authorized biography of Mechai Viravaidya. Post Books, 2001, p. 328.
  12. ↑ Cathryn Dhanatya: Constructions of Disease. A Multiperspectival Analysis of HIV / AIDS Media Campaigns for Youth in Thailand . Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles 2008, p. 61.
  13. ↑ Surin Maisrikrod: Thailand's Two General Elections in 1992 1992, p. 9.
  14. ^ Duncan McCargo: Thailand's political parties. Real, authentic and actual. In: Political Change in Thailand Democracy and Participation. Routledge, 1997, p. 128.
  15. ↑ Die Welt : Thailand's Vice Prime Minister resigns from October 8, 2008.
  16. ↑ Bangkok Post, September 18, 2009: Chavalit won't work with coup leader

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Note on Thai names : This article addresses people by their first name.
personal data
SURNAME Chavalit Yongchaiyudh
BRIEF DESCRIPTION thai politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Nonthaburi