89 Facts About Prayut Chan-o-cha

Prayut Chan-o-cha is concurrently the Minister of Defence, a position he has held in his own government since 2019.

Prayut Chan-o-cha later sought to moderate his profile, talking to relatives of protesters who were killed in the bloody conflict, and co-operating with the government of Yingluck Shinawatra who won parliamentary elections in July 2011.

However, in May 2014, Prayut Chan-o-cha launched a military coup against the government and assumed control of the country as dictator and leader of the National Council for Peace and Order, a military junta.

Prayut Chan-o-cha later issued an interim constitution granting himself sweeping powers and giving himself amnesty for staging the coup.

Prayut Chan-o-cha was re-elected as Prime Minister of Thailand following the disputed 2019 Thai general election, after having ruled as an unelected strongman since 2014.

Prayut Chan-o-cha studied at Sahakit School in Lopburi, where his mother taught.

In 1971, Prayut Chan-o-cha spent his senior highschool year at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School Class 12, and in 1976, became a cadet at Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy Class 23.

Prayut Chan-o-cha was a royal guard under Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda in 1987.

Prayut Chan-o-cha was seen as one of the leaders of the alliance behind the 2006 Thai coup d'etat.

Prayut Chan-o-cha sits on the executive boards of a number of companies including a state electricity utility company, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority.

Prayut Chan-o-cha attended management course in the National Defence College of Thailand Class 20, in 2007.

Prayut Chan-o-cha was the chief of staff of the Royal Thai Army from 2008 to 2009, and in 2009 he was appointed honorary adjutant to the king.

On taking over, Prayut Chan-o-cha had stated that his mandates would be to maintain Thailand's sovereignty and to protect the monarchy.

Amid the 2010 Thai political protests, Prayut Chan-o-cha was the part of executive of the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situations, a special government agency that was found by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Deputy-Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban.

Queen's Guards army general, Anupong Paochinda was the leader of the violent 2010 Thai military crackdown before Prayut Chan-o-cha stepped up to replace Anupong.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a visiting scholar at Stanford University's Centre on Democracy, commented that Prayut Chan-o-cha was seen as more hardline than Anupong, and in April 2009, during the red shirts' uprising, Anupong was nominally in charge but Prayut Chan-o-cha appeared to be directing the dispersing the red shirt protesters.

Prayut Chan-o-cha had led the CRES from 5 October to 21 December 2010, in which he used authoritarian methods to control a political situation.

Prayut Chan-o-cha told the media that he stood in the middle, but urged Thai people not to vote for Pheu Thai, saying it would lead to "chaos and violence".

Prayut Chan-o-cha intended to stop a violation of monarchy defamation law by red shirts activists who support Yingluck.

Prayut Chan-o-cha vowed to sacrifice his life to protect the monarchy.

Prayut Chan-o-cha warned them that they would violate the rule of law in Thailand.

In July 2012, during the GT200 controversy, a fraudulent "remote substance detector", Prayut Chan-o-cha opined that soldiers were confident of the effectiveness of the technology, because it performed well in the field.

Later, in 2013, Prayut Chan-o-cha asked people to stop criticizing it.

Prayut Chan-o-cha told the DSI to stop implicating soldiers in the killing of Red Shirt demonstrators during the 2010 Thai military crackdown and not to disclose publicly the progress of its investigations.

Prayut Chan-o-cha had denied any army abuses in which at least 98 people died and more than 2,000 were injured, despite on scene witnesses and evidence.

Prayut Chan-o-cha said that soldiers did not kill anyone during the conflicts.

Prayut Chan-o-cha argued that soldiers seen in photos and videos armed with telescopic rifles were not 'snipers,' but were only using them for self-defense.

Prayut Chan-o-cha adopted a policy that soldiers could be regarded as witnesses in the investigations and protected them from criminal charge.

Prayut Chan-o-cha insisted that they had not staged a coup, despite being in control of key levers of power.

Prayut Chan-o-cha did not inform the caretaker government of Yingluck to declare martial law, and ordered 14 TV channels to stop broadcasting and warned Thai people not to use social media to stir up disturbance.

Prayut Chan-o-cha seized control of the media, imposed Internet censorship, declared a curfew nationwide, banned gatherings of five or more persons and arrested politicians and anti-coup activists, some of whom were charged with sedition and tried in military courts.

Preempting normal broadcasting, including Thai soap operas, Prayut Chan-o-cha sometimes spoke for more than an hour, explaining government policies, warning the media to cease spreading dissenting views, and complaining that people weren't heeding him.

In January 2019, ahead of the general election, Prayut Chan-o-cha released In Memory, about the conflicts before the coup.

Also in 2019, Prayut Chan-o-cha released New Day, and his tenth song, Thai is Thai March, the latter inspired by the king's coronation.

On 22 July 2014, Prayut Chan-o-cha issued an interim constitution granting himself an amnesty for leading the coup and new sweeping powers.

Prayut Chan-o-cha became the first coup leader to serve as prime minister in almost 60 years, the last was Sarit Thanarat, and his appointment was condemned by opponents.

The royal endorsement allowed Prayut Chan-o-cha to establish an interim government until elections were held in late 2015.

Prayut Chan-o-cha retired from the army chief post in October 2014.

In September 2014, following the murders of British tourists David Miller and Hannah Witheridge, Prayut Chan-o-cha questioned what they, and other tourists who have been killed in Ko Tao recently, were wearing at the time.

Prayut Chan-o-cha's assets included a Mercedes Benz S600L, a BMW 740Li series sedan, three additional vehicles, nine luxury watches valued at three million baht, US$200,000 in jewellery, and several pistols.

When Prayut Chan-o-cha was speaking at an event in Khon Kaen on 11 November 2014, five students called 'Dao Din group' from Khon Kaen University sitting near the podium stood up and flashed a salute seen as a sign of silent dissent against a brutal authoritarian state, inspired by Hollywood film series the Hunger Games, the three-fingered salute was widely used by protesters since May 2014.

In February 2015, Prayut Chan-o-cha declared he had the power to forcefully close media outlets.

Prayut Chan-o-cha blamed Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, on inaction and ignorance by the Yingluck cabinet.

Prayut Chan-o-cha vowed to ban fishing operators if they are found to violate laws and abuse workers, and that could be extended to other Thai exports like rice or rubber.

Prayut Chan-o-cha warned the media that reporting on slavery labour in the Thai fishing industry could affect national security.

Prayut Chan-o-cha supported providing more aid to farmers, increasing the sale of Thai rubber to China, and completing a potash mining project to cut farmers' cost of fertiliser.

Prayut Chan-o-cha encouraged manufacturers to cut packaging costs, particularly "beautiful packaging".

Prayut Chan-o-cha was not required to inform the government before issuing an order, but must notify the interim parliament "without delay".

Prayut Chan-o-cha pledged to use Article 44 powers to address the nation's failure to meet the International Civil Aviation Organization aviation safety standards.

Prayut Chan-o-cha blamed this on staffing issues, noting that the Department of Civil Aviation only has 13 aviation safety inspectors, the DCA employed 1,514.

Prayut Chan-o-cha later conceded that Article 44 will not be enough to resolve illegal fishing issues within the six-month period stipulated by the EU.

Prayut Chan-o-cha added that politicians had no right to criticise the draft constitution.

Prayut Chan-o-cha said that detentions of activists were the fault of his opponents for protesting against his rule.

Prayut Chan-o-cha said that he would no longer put up with criticism from "irresponsible newspaper columnists" and had instructed officials to invite them for "talks".

In January 2016, Prayut Chan-o-cha dared people to oppose the NCPO, and said that he did not care what the international community would think about it.

Prayut Chan-o-cha made comments calling for women to look after the home.

Prayut Chan-o-cha promised a general election in 2015, but he said in February 2016 that it will take place in 2017, amid delays in the drafting of the constitution.

At a summit meeting with Southeast Asian leaders in California, Prayut Chan-o-cha was invited by US President Barack Obama, which was criticized by human rights activists, opposition party leaders and scholars, warning that the invitation will suggest Washington's endorsement of the military dictatorship.

In March, while Prayut Chan-o-cha attended the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC, he gave an interview to the Voice of America, where he claimed that disaffected politicians, who had fled Thailand following the 2014 coup, had hired lobbyists in the US to spread propaganda discrediting his government.

In 2016, Prayut Chan-o-cha stalled a decision by the Sangha Supreme Council by refusing to submit the nomination for Supreme Patriarch of Somdet Chuang, a Maha Nikaya monk who was next in line for the position.

Prayut Chan-o-cha used article 44 to replace the head of the National Office of Buddhism with a Department of Special Investigation official.

Prayut Chan-o-cha said the nation would hold a one-year mourning period.

Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered flags to fly at half-mast, entertainment activities to toned down for one month.

Prayut Chan-o-cha urged people to stay safe and pointed that national security was a top priority before King Vajiralongkorn unofficially become the new monarch.

In February 2017, Prayut Chan-o-cha asked the public not to be obsessed with democracy, rights, and liberties.

Prayut Chan-o-cha said people should take into consideration other principles, especially existing laws, to find "proper logic".

Prayut Chan-o-cha stated that the government cannot be swayed by the public's feelings.

Prayut Chan-o-cha said that societal conflicts arise from social and economic disparity and an educational system that fails to instill a proper way of thinking.

Prayut Chan-o-cha stated his goal of moving Thailand from a middle income economy to a high income economy through the Thailand 4.0 development initiative that aims to transform the country into a more value-based and innovation driven society.

Political parties were able to nominate anyone as their prime minister candidate, including non-party members, which led commentators to believe that Prayut Chan-o-cha planned to be selected as prime minister with votes from 250 senators and MPs from pro-junta parties, namely the Phalang Pracharat Party, which has close ties to the junta and is led by Prayut Chan-o-cha's cabinet ministers.

Prayut Chan-o-cha expressed his desire to continue serving as prime minister after the election.

Via NCPO mechanisms, Prayut Chan-o-cha has appointed allies to the Senate, Constitutional Court, various Constitutional organizations, including the Election Commission, and the National Anti-Corruption Commission as well as officials at the local government level.

Prayut Chan-o-cha joined United Thai Nation Party on 23 December 2022.

Nevertheless, Prayut Chan-o-cha blamed the protesters for further damaging the country's economy.

In June 2020, Prayut Chan-o-cha told reporters that King Vajiralongkorn had instructed his government not to use the lese majeste law.

Sulak Sivaraksa, a well-known Thai royalist scholar, decried Prayut Chan-o-cha's using the lese-majeste law and called for Prayut Chan-o-cha's removal from office.

In early 2021, the Thai government, led by Prayut Chan-o-cha, had adopted a draft law, Draft Act on the Operations of Not-for-Profit Organizations, to regulate non-governmental organization.

The Internal Security Operations Command, head by Prayut Chan-o-cha, was involved in deep monitoring of opposition politicians, seen as Prayut Chan-o-cha's political enemies, along with Thai activists.

In November 2021, Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered the Royal Thai Police and the Ministry of Interior to check if Amnesty International had violated any Thai laws following the campaign's support of the repeal of lese-majeste law regarding a contentious ruling by the Constitutional Court against the 2020 Thai protests calling for reform of the monarchy.

Prayut Chan-o-cha was welcomed by people in Ban Dung District in Udon Thani.

The 2017 constitution, adopted under Prayut Chan-o-cha's ruling junta, sets a term limit of eight years for prime ministers.

Prayut Chan-o-cha's supporters defended a continued premiership, arguing that the eight-year duration should be counted from when the 2017 constitution went into force or from the beginning of Prayut's civilian administration after the 2019 elections.

Prayut Chan-o-cha is married to Naraporn Chan-o-cha, a former associate professor at Chulalongkorn University's Language Institute.

Prayut Chan-o-cha has served as president of the Army Wives' Association since Prayut's selection as army chief in 2010, and is involved with distance learning organisations, for whom she teaches English on a long-distance learning television channel.

Prayut Chan-o-cha claimed to have told her husband to cool down when speaking to the media.

Prayut Chan-o-cha has stated publicly that he consults a fortune teller, Warin Buawiratlert, regularly.

Prayut Chan-o-cha said that there was no harm in seeking advice.

Prayut Chan-o-cha wears an elephant hair bracelet to ward off bad luck.

Prayut Chan-o-cha has revived the tradition of wearing the phraratchathan, first popularised by Prem Tinsulanonda in the 1980s, and has instructed cabinet members to dress in the phraratchathan at meetings, rather than in Western suits.