43 Facts About Sonthi Boonyaratglin

Sonthi Boonyaratglin was the first Muslim in charge of the army of the mostly Buddhist country.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin graduated from the 6th Class of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin graduated from Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy in 1969 as part of Class 17 and was commissioned into the Royal Army Infantry Corps.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin went on to lead several top units, including the elite Special Warfare Command based in Lopburi province.

Against public expectations, Sonthi Boonyaratglin was promoted to Army Commander in October 2005.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin's fast rise was backed by retired armed forces Supreme Commander General Surayud Chulanont.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin later received a doctor's degree in political science from the open-admission Ramkhamhaeng University.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin has protested Thaksin's unsuccessful attempt to promote a large number of his own former classmates from Class 10 of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School to army units responsible for Bangkok's security.

Some observers saw this as a message to the Government that Sonthi Boonyaratglin was still firmly in charge of the Army.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin was blamed for failing to rescue two teachers who had been kidnapped and severely beaten by a mob in May 2006.

Three days later, Sonthi Boonyaratglin led a coup against the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin did not say why the regular army was to be reduced in the South.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin later claimed that he was misled into receiving Sondhi, and had no intention to endorse the anti-government activists.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin dissolved Cabinet, Parliament, and the Constitutional Court, and temporarily gave himself powers equivalent to prime minister.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin declared that the council would hand over power in two weeks.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin cited the "Portuguese example" in which anti-government rallies coincided with a successful military rebellion which overthrew King Manuel II of Portugal and established the Portuguese First Republic.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin stated that the coup was not an urgent measure mooted just a couple of days earlier.

Amid falling popularity, Sonthi Boonyaratglin sent his wife and several CNS leaders to visit her on 1 April 2007.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin completely purged the military of all senior officers perceived as loyal to the Thaksin government, replacing them with officers that he personally trusted.

In December 2006, junta chief Sonthi Boonyaratglin issued several guidelines for the permanent constitution being drafted by the CNS's drafting body.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin suggested that the term in office of village heads and kamnan be increased from 5 years to 10 years, while the role of elected tambon administrative organisations be reduced.

In February 2007, Sonthi Boonyaratglin vowed in front of a thousand volunteer territorial defence students to reclaim the satellites and other telecom assets.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin stopped short of threatening to nationalise the telecommunications conglomerate.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin approved a 12 million baht top-secret budget for a public relations campaign to discredit Thaksin Shinawatra.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin did not cite any evidence for his claims.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin claimed in public that several upper-middle-ranking public officials had attempted to give him between 40 and 100 million baht in order to get promoted to director-general posts.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin noted that the incidents led him to conclude that paying bribes to get promoted was common during the deposed government of Thaksin Shinawatra.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin later claimed that he was tricked into receiving Chaiwat, and had no intention to endorse the anti-government activists.

In May 2007, Sonthi Boonyaratglin warned about 40 senior newspaper columnists and executives to "report news correctly," saying that he had noticed columnists criticising situations in different ways, and making it clear that he wanted stories to be reported in the same direction.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin later denied that he lobbied the Constitution Tribunal to ban the Thai Rak Thai executive team.

In March 2007, Sonthi Boonyaratglin called for emergency rule to be declared in Bangkok in response to the protests by the founders of PTV.

Coup-supporter Suriyasai Katasila of the People's Alliance for Democracy suggested that Sonthi Boonyaratglin skip the next post-election and wait for the one after it, if he is keen about entering politics.

CNS sources claimed that as of July 2007, Sonthi Boonyaratglin had not made a decision about whether or not to run in the next election.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin travelled to the provinces to convince local officials to cut links with Thaksin Shinawatra and anti-junta politicians, telling them they would be treated better under his rule.

Sources claimed that Sonthi Boonyaratglin was planning to run for Parliament in the next election, representing Lopburi.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin resigned as commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army on 30 September 2007.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin resigned as chairman of the Council for National Security on 1 October 2007.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin was succeeded as CNS chairman by Air Chief Marshal Chalit Pukbhasuk, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Air Force.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin accepted a post in the cabinet of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont as deputy prime minister in charge of security.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin registered to marry his first wife, Sukanya, when he was a lieutenant and registered to a second wife, Piyada, when he was a captain.

However, Interior Minister Aree Wongsaraya defended Sonthi Boonyaratglin, claiming that it was a personal matter.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin's ancestor, Sheikh Ahmad Qomi, was an Iranian expatriate trader who lived in Thailand for 26 years.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin has received the following royal decorations in the Honours System of Thailand:.