Is Thailand going down same path that led to violence in 1992?

Generals Sunthorn Khongsomphong and Suchinda Kraprayoon ousted the Chatichai Choonhavan government in a coup on February 23, 1991, on grounds that it was so corrupt that the country was on the brink of collapse.

Like the current Council for National Security, the National Peace Keeping Council (NPKC), as the junta called itself, set up an Assets Examination Committee (AEC) to investigate the alleged corruption.

The AEC quickly froze the assets of Chatichai and other 24 ministers with the charge that they were "unusually rich".

The junta appointed Anand Panyarachun as interim premier and promised to hold an election as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, Thiti Nakornthap, a former Air Force officer who was close to Army chief Suchinda and Air Force Air Chief Marshal Kaset Rojananin, another junta member, founded a political party that was initially called the "Military Party" before its name was changed to "Samakheedham".

Thiti invited Narong Wongwan, the Solidarity Party leader and one of 15 former ministers against whom the AEC had dropped investigations, to lead Samakheedham while he took the post of secretary-general.

Thiti acted as a recruiter, successfully bringing a number of political heavyweights and their followers into the party. Three other ministers dropped from the AEC's list - Pramual Sapawasu, Chaisiri Reungkanchanaset and Santi Chaiwirattana - joined the party along with Suchart Tanchareun and Newin Chidchob and Suwat Liptapanlop.

Suwat is said to be one of the politicians behind the current Rak Chat initiative.

Amid public suspicion that the party was a vehicle for the NKPC to cling to power, the drafters of a new constitution made proposals that would give the military control over the next elected government.

The drafters wanted the military-appointed senators to have the same power as elected MPs to censure ministers. They also agreed that only the Parliament president could nominate a PM for royal approval.

The proposal drew widespread opposition from activists and academics, who believed it was part of a plan to appoint Suchinda as prime minister.

Suchinda denied that he might be the next premier, saying all the junta's members would return to their camps once the new elected government assumed power.

Although charter drafters later decided that members of the Lower House should choose the prime ministerial candidate, distrust of the junta persisted.

The election on March 22, 1992, was allegedly one of the dirtiest national polls ever due to rampant vote-buying, particularly in rural constituencies.

The results were what political observers expected. The Samakheedham party won 79 seats, followed by Chat Thai (74), New Aspiration (72); Democrats (44); Palang Dhama (41), Social Action (31); Prachakornthai (7), Solidarity (6) and Rassadorn (4).

Samakheedham leader Narong was nominated as prime minister after his party formed a coalition government with Chat Thai, Social Action, Prachakornthai and Rassadorn, giving it the support of 195 MPs.

But before the Parliament president could ask for royal endorsement of the new premier, the US State Department issued a statement naming Narong as among those barred from entering the US because he was "close" to a drug warlord.

Narong finally withdrew his nomination and Suchinda became the "proper" choice amid the leadership crisis.

Suchinda resigned as the Supreme Commander-in-chief and Army chief before assuming the premiership on April 7, 1992, with support of the five parties.

In an interview with Thai-language newspaper Post Today published last year, Thiti said he brought the military into Samakheedham to ensure its stability, as history showed that civil governments could not survive conflicts with the military.

He admitted that he had planned to make one of the junta members prime minister.

"We had not expected that the public sentiment against Suchinda would become serious," Thiti said.

"Everything happened so quickly. We did not even think that the mass protest [on Rajdamnoen Avenue in May 1992] would turn into bloodshed because we believed our party won the election under democratic rules. Moreover, the rules allowed non-MPs to become the prime minister," Thiti said.

Suchinda resigned after the violence from May 17-20,

which caused hundreds of casualties.

Thiti decided to dissolve Samakheedham shortly afterwards "to return peace and bring reconciliation to the country".

Weerayut Chokchaimadon

The Nation