CHIANG MAI, Thailand - In this country's arcane political system, where coups
come and go, there is one constant: His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Even
though constitutionally he must remain aloof from politics, the highly revered
monarch is in effect the one leader Thais turn to for political direction
during times of crisis. And that has brought his right-hand man Prem
Tinsulanond into sharp focus during the country's current period of political
pain.
A former army commander, Prem served as appointed prime minister from 1980-88.
More important, he currently serves as
president of the Privy Council, the palace's top advisory body, and is widely
regarded as Thailand's only real statesman. Prem has been King Bhumibol's
trusted lieutenant for the past quarter-century, and when he speaks, it is
widely recognized as a message direct from the throne.
Now 86, Prem is by nature a man of few words. As prime minister, he kept a low
profile, though according to his ministers at the time, he ran the cabinet as a
tight ship and efficiently set the reform course for Thailand's 1990s economic
boom. This year, the soft-spoken Prem has been brought into the public and
political arena as rarely before - even compared with his time as prime
minister.
In the aftermath of last month's coup, Prem was instrumental in warding off the
perceived threat to the monarchy's exalted status in Thai society posed by
former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Throughout his five-year tenure,
Thaksin was careful to be visibly loyal to the palace - a politically essential
appearance in a country fiercely loyal to the crown. But through the
tough-talking premier's authoritarian tendencies, he was widely perceived to be
in less than awe of the palace as an institution and stood accused of usurping
certain functions traditionally reserved for royalty.
For instance, he peeved many palace loyalists when, during a hospital visit to
the ailing monarch, he presented him with a government medical-care card
related to Thaksin's own policy of cheap universal health care. And he appeared
to go against the palace's wishes when he resumed his role as caretaker prime
minister after stepping down in April after a closed-door meeting with the
monarch, nominally to oversee preparations for celebrations commemorating King
Bhumibol's 60 years on the throne.
Political insiders say that brought him into conflict with Prem, often in a
display of political shadow-boxing. When Thaksin was besieged by tens of
thousands of street protesters in Bangkok calling for him to resign this year,
he launched a thinly veiled attack on Prem when he spoke of a "charismatic"
figure who was through extra-constitutional means trying to push him from
power. A mild bomb explosion outside Prem's residence was read by many
political observers as an unprecedented shot across the bows of the Privy
Council and, by association, the palace.
At the height of the crisis, Prem in turn exploited his position as a respected
former army commander and adviser to King Bhumibol to remind Thai troops on
several occasions that their primary allegiance was to the throne, and not
political leaders. This was a clear reference to Thaksin, who at the time was
drumming up support among senior officers through his Pre-Cadet Class 10
affiliations, many of whom he elevated through the ranks on a pure patronage
basis.
Prem is also widely believed to have played a pivotal role in the September 19
coup that ousted Thaksin while the latter was in New York attending the opening
of the United Nations General Assembly session. It is not by coincidence that
General Surayud Chulanont, a close aide to Prem during the early 1980s and a
fellow member of the Privy Council, was chosen as interim prime minister. The
military coup-makers have since frequently consulted Prem concerning their
government policies and appointments, which have been stacked with known palace
loyalists.
Staunch nationalist
Prem has proved himself a staunch nationalist throughout his public career,
which significantly has earned him the enduring trust of King Bhumibol. Nor is
he a stranger to political power plays. One year after assuming the
premiership, Prem defused a coup attempt in 1981 launched by ideologically
motivated officers against his government by symbolically joining with King
Bhumibol, who had moved to Nakhon Ratcasima province in the country's central
region soon after the putsch began. Another coup attempt against Prem's
government in 1985 sputtered out 10 hours after it was launched because it
clearly was not endorsed by the king.
Prem dissolved parliament and resigned in 1988, paving the way for national
democratic elections. He was thereafter quickly drafted onto King Bhumibol's
Privy Council, where he has remained ever since. Over the years Prem has come
to be regarded as the semi-reclusive king's public face; when he makes a public
pronouncement, it is widely heard as a message from the palace. And Prem's
Privy Council is expected to play a pivotal role in managing the eventual
succession to the throne and maintain the monarchy's exalted position in Thai
society after King Bhumibol eventually passes.
That's why all eyes in Thailand are now on the senior statesman's next moves.
The local press recently made much of last week's private 15-minute visit with
Prem by Thaksin's wife Pojaman Shinawatra, where she reportedly asked when her
husband would be allowed to re-enter the country from self-imposed exile in the
United Kingdom. The newly established, military-led Council for National
Security has maintained martial law and discouraged Thaksin from re-entering
the country over concerns that supporters of the deposed premier might stir
trouble.
During the meeting with Pojaman, Prem characteristically said it wasn't his
decision to make - though some critics interpreted the closed-door meeting as
the possible beginnings of an elite settlement that would free Thaksin from
corruption charges if he agreed to stay out of politics. Yet corruption
investigations into the business dealings of Thaksin, Pojaman and their former
government allies are firmly under way, including a probe into a seemingly
dodgy land deal that Pojaman concluded with a state-run financial-rescue
agency.
Significantly, Pojaman sought a meeting with Prem rather than with interim
Prime Minister Surayud, demonstrating by proxy that Thaksin is cognizant of
Prem's primary, albeit behind-the-scenes, role in the establishment of the
country's new political order. With Thaksin's perceived threat to the throne
apparently safely removed, Prem's polite demurral to his wife also sends a
strong signal that the palace, ever influential, intends quickly to resume its
traditional position above the cut and thrust of the country's day-to-day
politics.
Rodney Tasker was a longtime correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic
Review, where he covered the ins and outs of the Thai military throughout the
1980s and 1990s and famously predicted the 1991 coup. He is semi-retired in the
northern Thai city of Chiang Mai.
