Prayut’s Pledge to “Return Thailand to Happiness” Just Never Happened

For nearly a decade, Thailand’s Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha used every trick in the book to keep his position as prime minister, including penning romantic ballads about restoring happiness to the Land of Smiles.

Despite his powerful position as former army chief and architect of a 2014 coup, observers and Thais say Prayuth’s long term will be remembered primarily for the bad – leaving democracy in shambles, cracking down on opposition, and piling up arrests for alleged royal defamation.

These concerns cast a lengthy shadow over any popularity he may have gained among Thais through his unusual sense of humor, lyric writing, and tendency to break into melody at inconvenient times, such as at a campaign rally in 2019 when he crooned love ballads.

The Thai people expressed displeasure in the May general election, in which Prayuth’s United Thai Nation Party (UTNP) fared poorly, cementing his destiny even before he announced his retirement from politics on Tuesday.

According to Ken Mathis Lohatepanont, a Thai political science researcher at the University of Michigan, the opposition Move Forward Party won the most seats in the election due to the backlash against his protracted leadership.

“Prayuth’s detractors will focus on the decline in democracy and freedom of expression, the anemic economy, and his personal antics [when they remember his tenure],” he told BenarNews.

Prayuth’s nine-year reign began in an undemocratic manner

After the army deposed an elected government in May 2014, former Gen. Prayuth assumed Thailand’s leader by declaring himself Prime Minister. He stated at the time that his goal was to put an end to brutal street protests and to expose the alleged wrongdoing of the Yingluck Shinawatra government.

He gradually implemented changes that would keep the junta or himself in power.

For example, in 2017, his military administration drafted a new constitution that required a prime minister to have enough Senate support to win a vote in Parliament. Prayuth then packed the Senate with supporters of the monarchy, including himself.

Following a general election in Thailand in 2019, Prayuth was elected prime minister, despite many observers alleging that the new constitution manipulated the poll to retain the pro-royal junta in office.

Prayuth managed to stay in power on his own, surviving four votes of confidence, including when he lost support within his party.

Despite his difficulties, Prayuth maintained a sense of humor and mischief while in government. He once avoided reporters’ queries by asking them to “ask him,” while pointing to a life-size cutout of himself. Another time, fed up with journalists’ queries, the prime minister strode up to them and sprayed them with disinfectant.

Thailand celebrated its first coronation in nearly 70 years

Prayuth supervised a smooth royal succession during his reign. Analysts suggested in 2014 that the Prayuth coup was staged partly to ensure a seamless royal succession in the waning years of the late king’s reign.

Thailand celebrated its first coronation in nearly 70 years in May 2019, crowning Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun (Rama X), two and a half years after the death of a respected previous monarch, Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX).

In 2017, the junta regime approved legislation giving Vajiralongkorn sole responsibility over the Crown Property Bureau, which oversees the monarchy’s lands and assets, valued at up to $30 billion.

Prayuth’s fondness for Thai royals was on full show in July 2020 when youth-led pro-democracy and anti-monarchy street protests erupted. Thousands of protesters frequently joined these protests to demand three things: Prayuth’s resignation, a rewrite of the constitution, and a reform of the monarchy.

Prayuth warned demonstrators in November of that year that “all pertaining laws,” including the stringent royal defamation Lèse-Majesté statute, would be applied. According to Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, as of March 2023, at least 238 people, including a 15-year-old girl, had been charged with Lèse-Majesté.

“The forced confinement of a man in a mental institution for wearing a shirt with a pointed message about the monarchy, at a time when the King has ridden out the pandemic at a luxury hotel in the German Alps, underlines the regime’s insecurity,” wrote Zachary Abuza, a professor at the National War College and Georgetown University in Washington, in a July 2020 column.

Continuous repression of democracy

Protesters calling for Prayuth’s removal claimed continuous repression of democracy, economic difficulties, and mismanagement of the pandemic. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University, argued in the Bangkok Post in July 2022 that Prayuth was too harsh in suppressing the protesters.

“The movement was dispersed and suppressed through a combination of water cannon[s], legal instruments, intimidation, and coercion – but its discontents and grievances are simmering under the lid of repression,” Thitinan said.

He also stated that while the protests had subsided, the country “seems to be heading for an inevitable reckoning in the medium term.”

According to Termsak Chalermpalanupap of the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute’s Thailand Studies Programme, that reckoning came in the May general election.

“The outcome of the May 2023 general election clearly showed that a majority of Thai voters were fed up with General Prayuth and his clique – the so-called ‘Three Ps,'” Termsak said.

He was alluding to Prayuth, former Gen. Prawit Wongsuwan, and Gen. Anupong (“Pok”) Paochinda, all of whom were part of the 2014 coup.

“I would call Gen. Prayuth a failed leader, even though he had near absolute administrative power during his first four years as the military regime’s leader.” On May 22, 2014, Prayuth’s coup to depose the Pheu Thai-led coalition government was unavoidable – or perhaps required – to reset Thailand for the better. “However, Gen. Prayuth blew a golden opportunity to bring real change to the country,” Termsak remarked.

He referred to claims of widespread corruption in the Pheu Thai-led administration before the 2014 coup.

Rampant Corruption Under Generals Rule

During Prayuth’s leadership, there was also “rampant and worse corruption everywhere, especially in the police,” according to Termsak.

As a result, the Prayuth government’s economic performance has been mediocre. According to the World Bank, Thailand has the most unequal economy in East Asia and the Pacific.

“Thailand’s inequality has skyrocketed since the 2006 coup; the military and its proxies have been in charge for the majority of that period,” National War College professor Abuza wrote.

According to Thouchanok Sattayavinit, a political science instructor at Burapha University, Prayuth’s government has produced more public debt than all preceding regimes combined.

“His government spent more money for military purposes, [and] weapons that have no benefits for the country,” Thouchanok told BenarNews.

Some argue that, with such a legacy, Prayuth should have stepped down sooner.

“Why did he decide so late?” wondered Chiang Mai resident Kessarin Preuksamongkol, 24.

“He waited until the last possible moment to ensure that his chances of becoming Prime Minister were nil, then he called it quits.”