ABSTRACT
A long-time veteran of Thai political battles, beginning as a young officer at the time of his father Lieutenant-General Phin Choonhavan’s 1947 coup, Chatichai Choonhavan came to the Prime Minister’s Office with the reputation of being a good-time-loving playboy. His flexible and realistic acceptance of the principal given of Thai politics, the leading role of the Royal Thai Army, has led to broad areas of co-operation between the Prime Minister and army leader General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh. In terms of strengthening Thailand’s fragile parliamentary system the most important piece of legislation was the passage of a bill to amend the Constitution to allow the elected speaker of the House of Representatives to also hold the position of president of Parliament. The August 1988 change in the Thai Government and the introduction of new bureaucratic actors coincided with a major alteration in the terms of the political confrontation between ASEAN and Vietnam over the future of Kampuchea.
