1. Chaturon Chaisang was a government member for several terms, serving as Minister of Justice, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Education in the cabinets of Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra.
24 Facts About Chaturon Chaisang
1. 2.
Chaturon Chaisang later fled to the United States, where he furthered his academic studies, earning a master's degree in economics.
3.
Chaturon Chaisang repeatedly switched parties, during most of the 1990s he stayed with the New Aspiration Party, in which he served as secretary general from 1997 until his leave in 2000.
4.
Chaturon Chaisang then joined the Thai Rak Thai Party of Thaksin Shinawatra, and became a member of Thaksin's government in several positions: Minister to the Office of the Prime Minister, Minister of Justice, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Education.
5.
Chaturon Chaisang was again removed from office by a military coup on 22 May 2014.
6.
Chaturon Chaisang's father, Anand Chaisaeng, was a prominent liberal politician who served as Member of Parliament representing Chahoengsao Province for four terms.
7.
Chaturon Chaisang was a leader of the Pracha Tham, a leftist students' party at Chiang Mai University.
8.
Chaturon Chaisang earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics at the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Master of Arts in economics from the American University in Washington, DC Chaturon Chaisang had mostly completed his Ph.
9.
Chaturon Chaisang was a Member of Parliament from Chachoengsao from 1986 until the 2006 Thai coup d'etat.
10.
Chaturon Chaisang played down his past as a leftist student activist, and instead presented himself as a US-educated, new-generation politician and son of an established MP.
11.
Chaturon Chaisang then defected to the minor People's Party, just to join the Thai Nation Party little later on invitation by Kraisak Choonhavan, another former leftist student activist and son of Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
12.
In 1992, Chaturon Chaisang again switched parties and joined the New Aspiration Party of General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh.
13.
Chaturon Chaisang became a "poster child" and spokesman of this party.
14.
Chaturon Chaisang served as the NAP's representative on the special committee for constitutional reform.
15.
Chaturon Chaisang intended to found a new party of his own, but given the difficulties under Thai party law, he instead joined the relatively new Thai Rak Thai Party of telecommunications tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra shortly ahead of its landslide success in the 2001 general election.
16.
Chaturon Chaisang immediately became a deputy leader of the party.
17.
Chaturon Chaisang had to take a new position , becoming Minister of Education in August 2005.
18.
Chaturon Chaisang was removed from office by the coup d'etat of 19 September 2006.
19.
Chaturon Chaisang strongly condemned the coup, saying it destroyed Thai democracy by violating the liberal 1997 constitution.
20.
In 2009, Chaturon Chaisang joined the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, known as the Red Shirts movement.
21.
Reportedly, Thaksin wanted Chaturon Chaisang to become one of the movement's leaders, but he could not come out on top, given the network's heterogenous and decentralised structure.
22.
Still, Chaturon Chaisang supported the Red Shirts during their protests in 2010.
23.
Chaturon Chaisang condemned the violent strategy of Abhisit Vejjajiva's violent approach toward the protest movement, but insisted that the Red Shirts should keep a non-violent strategy, arguing against hardcore leaders of the movement.
24.
Chaturon Chaisang was removed from power by the military coup d'etat of 22 May 2014.