Word: prem
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...another coup in Thailand-the 14th since constitutional government was established in 1932. Rebel army units took key buildings in Bangkok last week, sacked the government and installed their own man, General San Chitpatima, 59, the army's deputy commander. Coup tradition dictated that the incumbent, Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanond, 61, step aside for the new soldier-statesman...
...characters were barely in place when the familiar scenario began to unravel. Instead of retiring quietly, Prem, also a general, and the army's cornmander in chief, escaped to the garrison city of Korat, 150 miles northeast of Bang kok. There, with the backing of the immensely popular King Bhumibol Adulyadej, he rallied his forces and skillfully set about isolating San and his fellow conspirators. "Only those who are bund are with the opposition," Prem declared in a radio broadcast from his temporary head quarters. "Almost all the army is in my hands, and the King is with...
Ironically, the coup's instigators, a group of young colonels, had first sought out Prem's support in a late-night meeting just three hours before making their move...
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...