Word: prem
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...Armed Forces Supreme Command headquarters in downtown Bangkok last week. Out of habit, the guard on duty saluted. But it was not an occasion to honor the retired general and former Prime Minister, for Kriangsak, 67, was arrested and charged with attempting to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda on Sept...
...Coup No. 18, apparently mounted by renegade military officers, took an unexpectedly violent turn. The rebellion was crushed within twelve hours, but it left five people dead and 60 injured. Worse, Thailand's image as an increasingly stable semidemocracy in Southeast Asia may have been tarnished. Said Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda, whose government withstood another military takeover attempt only four years ago: "I don't agree with this method of solving the country's problems...
...insurgents' action was carefully timed to take place when both the Prime Minister and General Arthit Kamlang-ek, Thailand's Supreme Commander, were out of the country. Before his departure, however, Prem had been informed by Thai intelligence that a coup might occur and alerted loyalist military brass. By 10 a.m. on the day of the coup attempt, an estimated 500 rebels found themselves squaring off against more than 1,000 loyalist troops near First Division headquarters, which also houses the army's main radio station. Without warning, rebel tanks and machine gunners opened fire. The action killed NBC Cameraman...
...week's end some of the plotters still had not been identified. Thai military officials were certain, however, that one of the ringleaders was a former army colonel, Manoon Roopkachorn, leader of the so-called young Turks who mounted the 1981 effort to oust Prem. Although coup instigators are often treated leniently, the Prime Minister indicated that things would be different this time. At a press conference in Bangkok, the government announced the appointment of a three-member panel of police officers to conduct an investigation of the abortive coup. Still, there was reason to wonder how tough the Thai...
...week's end, seven officers, 80 soldiers and five labor leaders were in custody. A state of emergency, declared when the coup attempt began, had yet to be lifted, and there were signs that Prem might shake up his Cabinet to give his government a needed boost of confidence. "This is and will be known as a tempest in a teapot," editorialized the Nation Review, an English- language daily in Bangkok. "But how other countries will view it is difficult...