Chamlong Srimuang (, ; born 5 July 1935) is a Thai activist and former politician. A former general, he was a leader of the "Young Turks" military clique, founded and led the Palang Dharma Party, served for six years as governor of Bangkok, led the anti-military uprising of May 1992, and is a prominent member of the People's Alliance for Democracy, a group strongly opposed to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Chamlong had supported the military junta that overthrew Thaksin in a coup. A devout Buddhist and follower of the Santi Asoke sect, he is now celibate, a vegetarian, and claims to have no worldly possessions. Chamlong Srimuang received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in the category of Government Service in 1992.
Early life and education Chamlong's father, a Chinese immigrant from Shantou, died when Chamlong was a baby. His mother was of Chinese ancestry, but was born in Thailand. Chamlong had an older brother who was sent to live in China with his grandmother and died there as a boy.
Following his father's death, Chamlong's family moved into the home of a retired naval officer, where his mother was a servant. They later lived with his mother's aunt, where she and Chamlong spun jute thread. When Chamlong was twelve, his mother married Chote Srimuang, a postman, and Chamlong took his last name.
Chamlong went to Ban Somdej Chao Phraya High School in Thonburi, where he was a top student. He then entered the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School, Thailand and was accepted into Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, where he graduated in Class 7. He developed a close relationship with his classmates Pallop Pinmanee and Manoonkrit Roopkachorn, both of whom would play important roles in Thai politics for decades.
Military career Newly commissioned Second Lieutenant Chamlong was assigned to the Signal Corps in Bangkok as a platoon leader. He received advanced training in military communications at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, and Fort Gordon, Georgia.
On his return to Thailand, he married Major Sirilak Kheolaor on 14 June 1964. They had met during an Army-Navy rugby match when Chamlong was a cadet. Soon afterwards, Chamlong was sent to the Schofield Barracks in Hawaii for a six-month course on military signal equipment.
He later served in Laos as a communications officer supporting Thai units fighting the communist Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese Army. He returned to Thailand to attend the Army Command and General Staff College, and also underwent six months of counterinsurgency training.
Assigned to South Vietnam as part of Thailand's ten-thousand strong troop deployment during the Vietnam War, Chamlong served as a senior planning and operations officer for an infantry division in Biên Hòa Province. He served in South Vietnam for one year, before being assigned to the Bangkok-based Thailand Military Research and Development Center.
In 1972, Chamlong attended the U.S. Navy's Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where he completed a two-year management course. For his master's degree thesis, he wrote a study of labor unrest in Thailand. Following his graduation, he returned to the Military Research and Development Center.
Young Turk
During the 1970s, Chamlong and other Class 7 alumni formed the Young Military Officers Group, commonly referred to as the "Young Turks". The Young Turks espoused an ideology of incorruptible leadership and anti-leftism.
Also during the 1970s, conflicts between the pro-democracy and students movement on the one hand, and rightist paramilitaries on the other, Chamlong admittedly attended rallies of the right-wing "Village Scouts". The Young Turks supported the military coup against the elected government of Seni Pramoj, following the bloody 6 October 1976 incident. The role the Young Turks played in the brutal massacre of student demonstrators gathered at Thammasat University, if any, is still debated.
The Young Turks also supported the coup against the military government of Tanin Kraivixien, who was seen as too far right. The coup installed Kriangsak Chomanand, Chamlong's commanding officer, as prime minister. In 1979, Kriangsak appointed then Lieutenant Colonel Chamlong to the military-dominated Senate of Thailand. The late-1970s and the ascension of Young Turk mentor General Prem Tinsulanonda to the premiership in 1980 marked the apex of Class 7's influence in Thai politics. Prem appointed Chamlong as his secretary, an extremely powerful position.
Secretary to Prem On 1 April 1981, the Young Turks, frustrated at the slow pace of political reform under Prem, staged a coup, later nicknamed the "April Fools Day" coup. Chamlong refused to take part, instead standing by Prem. The coup collapsed after the royal family, accompanied by Prem to Nakhon Ratchasima Province, announced their support for troops loyal to the government.
A rift between Chamlong and Prem later erupted when the lower house of parliament passed a law legalizing abortions in cases of rape and in situations when a pregnant woman's life was in danger. Chamlong was strongly opposed to what he viewed as "free abortions", and he resigned as Prem's secretary and successfully lobbied the senate to veto the law.
Chamlong next was assigned to teach psychology and politics at the National Defense College.
Santi Asoke Chamlong had long been a devout Buddhist, and had particular respect for the monks Buddhadasa Bhikkhu and Panyanantha Bhikkhu. In 1979, Chamlong met Phra Phothirak (Bodhirak), founder of the Santi Asoke sect. Soon afterwards, Chamlong and Sirilak vowed to abstain from sexual relations and, in Sirilak's words, to start "a new life together in purity and friendship". In the early-1980s, he spent his free time touring the countryside, giving talks about Phothirak's brand of ascetic Buddhism, and urging people to abstain from alcohol, cigarettes, meat, and gambling.
On 1 October 1985, Chamlong was promoted from colonel to major general. Two days later, he resigned from the army and registered as a candidate for governor of Bangkok.
Governor of Bangkok and leader of the Palang Dharma Party Chamlong ran for governor as an independent, supported by an organization calling itself Ruam Phalang (United Force), made up mostly of volunteers from Santi Asoke. He ran based on promises of integrity and anti-corruption. The campaign relied heavily on inexpensive posters and door-to-door visits, in contrast to more traditional giant posters and political rallies. Chamlong's candidacy was belittled by the then Democrat Party leader Pichai Rattakul, as "sidewalk" ware, while the Democrat incumbent was likened as "department store" ware. Chamlong won the election with half a million votes, twice as many as his most popular competitor, incumbent Chana Rungsaeng.
As governor, Chamlong reopened bidding for several city projects. He claimed that the lower cost of new bids saved the city 80 million baht (nearly US$3 million). He persuaded city street sweepers to sweep streets for the entire day, rather than just during the morning. Chamlong encouraged road-side hawkers, technically illegal, to stop selling their wares once a week, on Wednesdays. His anti-poverty projects included paving footpaths in squatter communities and establishing a chain of thrift stores for the poor.
In 1988, Chamlong established the Palang Dharma (Moral Force) Party (PDP) to contest nationwide parliamentary elections. Chamlong himself remained in the governorship of Bangkok, while a huge slate of 318 PDP candidates vied for seats across the nation. Half of the PDP's candidates were Santi Asoke devotees (sometimes referred to as the "temple faction"), and the party's ideological platform clearly reflected Santi Asoke teachings. However, some key posts went to outsiders (referred to as the "political faction"), including the post of secretary-general, which went to Dr Udomsilp Srisaengnam.
The PDP provoked much criticism, most of it aimed at Chamlong and Santi Asoke. Chamlong was accused of playing an active role in the student massacres of 1976 (charges which he denied). Santi Asoke was accused of being an illegal sect with heretical teachings.
The election was a disappointment for the PDP. Only fourteen candidates won seats: ten in Bangkok and four in the provinces. Santi Asoke candidates fared particularly poorly. As a result of the 1988 elections, Chamlong's former patron, Prem Tinsulanonda, was replaced as prime minister by Chatichai Choonhavan, leader of the Chart Thai Party.
It was widely speculated that Secretary-General Udomsilp wanted to join Chatichai's government coalition, where he had been promised the Ministry of Public Health. Chamlong declared that he would rather dissolve the party than let Udomsilp succeed. Udomsilp later resigned as PDP Secretary-General and was succeeded by Vinai Sompong, Chamlong's personal secretary. Thus began a decade long division between the "temple faction" and the "political faction" that would forever plague the PDP.
Chatichai's government reopened investigations into Santi Asoke, which led to a decision by the Supreme Council of the Sangha to defrock Phothirak. Phothirak sidestepped the defrocking by abandoning his yellow robes for white ones and refraining from calling himself a monk.
In 2007 and 2008, Santi Asoke monks presented themselves in brown robes again. Apart from Bhotirak many of them were ordained in the orthodox manner before they joined Santi Asoke; they remained monks, albeit without the "monks' pass" issued by the monastic hierarchy.
In the 1990 re-elections for the governorship of Bangkok, Chamlong gained 62 percent of all votes, twice as many as his most popular rival. In the 1990 election for the Bangkok City Council, the PDP won by a landslide, with 49 out of 55 seats.
Chamlong was governor during the signing of the deal for the project later to be known as the "Thai Stonehenge". It consists of some 500 incomplete concrete pillars which are part of the unfinished Hopewell mass transit project, and is considered an unofficial monument to massive corruption.
Opposition to Suchinda Kraprayoon
Prelude to violence On 23 February 1991, army chief General Suchinda Kraprayoon overthrew the government of General Chatichai Choonhavan. The coup-makers, who called themselves the National Peace-Keeping Council (NPKC), appointed Anand Panyarachun as prime minister. Anand's interim government promulgated a new constitution and scheduled parliamentary elections for 22 March 1992.
Chamlong decided to resign as governor and become a PDP parliamentary candidate. The PDP won by a landslide in Bangkok, with 32 of 35 seats. Outside Bangkok, however, the PDP won only nine seats. Meanwhile, PDP candidate Krisda Arunvongse na Ayutthaya became Governor of Bangkok. A government coalition with 55 percent of the lower house was formed without the PDP and appointed Suchinda as prime minister. Massive public protests immediately followed. Chamlong played a major role in the protests and started a hunger strike on 4 May. On 9 May, Suchinda responded by saying that he would support a constitutional amendment making individuals who had not been elected to parliament ineligible for the premiership. Chamlong ended his fast on 9 May as tensions dissipated. That same evening, he also announced his resignation as leader of the PDP to allay suspicions that his actions were politically motivated.
Bloody May