Prem Tinsulanonda (26 August 1920 – 26 May 2019) was Prime Minister of Thailand from 3 March 1980 to 4 August 1988, succeeding Kriangsak Chamanan and preceding Chatichai Choonhavan.
Biography[]
Prem Tinsulanonda was born in Songkhla Province, Thailand in 1920, and he distinguished himself as an army officer before entering politics in 1959 as a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee. He served as a senator from 1968 to 1971, as an MP from 1972 to 1973, as Minister of Defense from 1979 to 1986, and then as Prime Minister from 1980 to 1988. During his premiership, he negotiated with the Communist Party of Thailand and amnestied its guerrillas, ending its insurgency in 1983. He also accelerated economic growth in the country, turning it into a Southeast Asian powerhouse. From 4 September 1988 to 26 May 2019, he served as President of the Privy Council, and he masterminded the 2006 coup and attempted to crush the Islamist insurgency in the country's south. He died in 2019 at the age of 98.