home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- <text id=92TT1090>
- <title>
- May 18, 1992: The General Protests
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1992
- May 18, 1992 Roger Keith Coleman:Due to Die
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- THE WEEK, Page 21
- WORLD
- The General Protests
- </hdr><body>
- <p>Thousands of Thai demonstrators back their leader's moral stand
- </p>
- <p> Throughout the week, demonstrators poured into Bangkok's
- streets to protest. On one day more than 100,000, headed by
- opposition politicians and student leaders, gathered outside
- parliament to vent their anger at the appointment of General
- Suchinda Kraprayoon, the army's Chief of Staff, as Prime
- Minister.
- </p>
- <p> Providing moral focus for the demonstrations was Chamlong
- Srimuang, a retired general and former governor of Bangkok who
- heads the opposition Palang Dharma party. A Buddhist, Chamlong
- announced that he would fast unto death to force Suchinda to
- resign. That vow sparked the antigovernment rallies. Suchinda
- fought back by accusing critics of promoting social unrest and
- declaring that he would resign only if his coalition suffered
- a parliamentary defeat. Suchinda's defiance was undermined,
- however, when his five-party coalition, clearly shaken by
- events, agreed to four constitutional amendments, including one
- that would require the Prime Minister to be an elected member
- of parliament. The opposition was not appeased, though Chamlong
- gave up his fast. At week's end King Bhumibol Adulyadej
- dispatched an envoy to the opposition camp to discuss ways to
- resolve the crisis.
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-