Word: prem
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...writes ("I had come to dislike the city"), but knew little about the rest of England. He decided to travel around its coast and those of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, going mainly by foot and rail, as is his custom, and avoiding cathedrals and castles on principle. The prem ise sounds delightful; the practice was catastrophic. Man was so vile that few prospects pleased. The author found defeated respectability at best, tackiness and decay as a matter of course, buildings meanly and cheaply made, people ignorant and dulled...
Even so, a 35% leap in petroleum prices eroded his popularity, and, as inflation soared and public discontent grew, Kriangsak stepped aside in March 1980 in favor of army Commander in Chief and Minister of Defense General Prem Tinsulanond. Prem soon had his own problems, especially after a leading group in his ruling coalition walked out of the government in February...
Kriangsak enters Parliament with a powerful political base. He appointed 150 of the Senate's 225 members while Premier, and he hopes to attract enough support in the lower house to make his National Democrat Party the leader of the opposition. If that happens, Prem's regime will confront a formidable foe. But Kriangsak coyly denies any plan to topple the government. Says he: "I'm nobody's enemy...
Since taking office 13 months ago, Prem has been plagued by factionalism and cor ruption within his fragile coalition government. The result has been administrative paralysis, despite mounting inflation and commodity shortages. Though Prem has done little to stop the rot, he retains a reputation as a good soldier whose personal integrity is unquestioned. The army's young Turks, most of them 1960 graduates of the Thai Military Academy who formed the nucleus of a so-called Revolutionary Party, apparently hoped to capitalize on that image while offering Prem a fresh start. He refused...
...plotters then turned to San, who signed on almost immediately. His motive, analysts believe, may have been a simple grudge against his lifelong friend, Prem. Last October Prem forced through a change in the country's mandatory retirement law that permitted him to remain in the army, and thus in the commander in chief's position, past his 60th birthday. As a result, San's access to the top military job - and with it perhaps an eventual premiership - seemed blocked...