Prasong Soonsiri

Prasong Soonsiri (1993)

Prasong Soonsiri ( Thai ประสงค์ สุ่ น ศิริ , RTGS Sunsiri ; born  August 11, 1927 in Amphoe Ban Pong , Ratchaburi Province ) is a Thai air force officer and former politician . He was Foreign Minister of Thailand from October 1992 to October 1994 . He played an important role in the military coup in September 2006 .

Military career

Prasong began his career in the Thai Air Force and made it to major there . He completed part of his training in the USA , where he learned about airborne reconnaissance. In 1966 he was appointed to the military department of the National Security Council, whose overall chairmanship he took over in 1980. In that role, he played a significant role in developing a hard line against Vietnam in the Cambodian conflict , working closely with his former boss, Foreign Minister Siddhi Savetsila .

Political activity

Prasong Soonsiri at a meeting of the People's Alliance for Democracy (“Yellow Shirts”) in the Thunder Dome , Mueang Thong Thani , 2008

From August 1986 he served as Secretary General of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda . With the end of his term in office, Prasong also left the government.

After Prem's resignation, Prasong approached the New Hope party , which was led by the former army chief General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh , and became its general secretary. But he resigned after differences arose over the distribution of constituencies after future elections. He accused the party of having sold candidate positions to so-called “influential people” or “godparents”. He then went to the Palang Dharma party , which was led by the former General Chamlong Srimuang and which was quite successful in the September 1992 election.

He became foreign minister in the Chuan Leekpais cabinet on October 2, 1992 and played a role in pacifying relations with Vietnam . On the other hand, he played the traditional Thai geopolitical security policy in Southeast Asia in the foreground. On October 25, 1994 he was replaced by another member of the Palang Dharma, who later became Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra .

Prasong was an early critic of Thaksin. In his column in the Naew Na newspaper in the run-up to the 2001 election , he accused him of paying MPs for their defection to his Thai-Rak-Thai party . Thaksin then sued him for defamation. When Thaksin was acquitted by the Constitutional Court in 2001 in a case of hidden property , he accused the judges of bribery. Prasong was again sued for defamation, but was acquitted.

In September 2006 he played a decisive role in the coup against Thaksin , for which he had drawn up plans from July of that year. After the coup, the military junta appointed him to the National Legislative Assembly and chaired the committee that drafted the 2007 constitution. He is considered a confidante of the Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Duncan McCargo : Thailans's political parties. Real, authentic and actual. In: Political Change in Thailand. Democracy and Participation. Routledge, 1997, p. 128.
2. ↑ Glen Lewis: Virtual Thailand. The Media And Cultural Politics In Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Routledge, 2006, p. 74.
3. ↑ Glen Lewis: Virtual Thailand. The Media And Cultural Politics In Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Routledge, 2006, p. 92.
4. ↑ David Streckfuss: Truth on Trial in Thailand. Defamation, treason, and lèse-majesté. Routledge, 2011, p. 367.
5. ↑ Surin Maisrikrod: Learning from the September 19 Coup. Advancing Thai-style Democracy? In: Southeast Asian Affairs 2007. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore 2007, p. 355.
6. ↑ Rodney Tasker: Grumbles, revelations of a Thai coup maker. In: Asia Times , December 22, 2006.
7. ^ Tan Hsien-Li: The ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. Institutionalizing Human Rights in Southeast Asia. Cambridge University Press, 2011, p. 102.
8. ^ Peter Leyland: Constitutional Design and the Quest for Good Governance in Thailand. In: Asian Constitutionalism in Transition. A Comparative Perspective. Giuffrè Editore, 2008, p. 81.

literature

• Michael Leifer: Dictionary of the modern politics of South-East Asia . London: Routledge 1996. ISBN 0-415-13821-3 . Article: "Prasong Soonsiri".

Note on Thai names : This article addresses people by their first name.