Sonthi Boonyaratglin

Despite escalating violence, in May 2007 Sonthi started withdrawing troops from the South, replacing them with territorial defence volunteers. He did not say why the regular army was to be reduced in the South.

Sonthi approved a 12 million baht top-secret budget for a public relations campaign to discredit Thaksin Shinawatra. The request for the money was submitted on 24 January 2007. Chianchuang Kalayanamitr, younger brother of CNS Deputy Secretary-General Saprang Kalayanamitr, was hired as head of the publicity team. Politicians hired as part of the CNS campaign included Chat Pattana party leader Korn Dabbaransi, Democrats Korn Chatikavanij, and Korbsak Sabavasu, Prapat Panya-chatraksa, a key Thai Rak Thai member who defected to the Chat Thai party, plus ex-senator Kraisak Choonhavan. Academics hired by the CNS included Wuttipong Piebjriya-wat, Sophon Supapong, Narong Phet-prasert, and Somkiat Osotspa. However, Sophon denied he had anything to do with the campaign.

After a bomb was exploded outside of Chitralada Palace in early May 2007, junta leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin claimed that the "old power group" was behind it, and told the press to ask PTV to learn more. He did not cite any evidence for his claims.

Amid escalating public criticism of Premier Surayud in March 2007, Chaiwat Sinsuwong, leader of a PAD branch called the Assembly of Isaan People, personally met Sonthi to request that the military remove the Prime Minister. Afterwards, Chaiwat claimed that Sonthi listened to him attentively and promised to consider his request. Sonthi later claimed that he was tricked into receiving Chaiwat, and had no intention to endorse the anti-government activists.

In May 2007, Sonthi 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.

On 30 May 2007, a junta-appointed Constitutional Tribunal dissolved the Thai Rak Thai Party and banned over 100 of its executives, including Thaksin, from politics for 5 years. On the morning of the ruling, Sonthi met with Tribunal judge Ackaratorn Chularat. He later denied that he lobbied the Constitution Tribunal to ban the Thai Rak Thai executive team.

There was widespread public speculation that Sonthi would retain power after his mandatory retirement in 2007. Although he promised not to follow in the footsteps of former National Peace Keeping Coalition leader and deposed prime minister General Suchinda Kraprayoon, Sonthi did note that he alone could not make the decision as to whether he should become Prime Minister.

In March 2007, Sonthi called for emergency rule to be declared in Bangkok in response to the protests by the founders of PTV. In an interview, he noted that the protests had so far been peaceful, but that he was afraid the movement could lead to "mutiny and chaos in the country."

As the military junta consolidated its power, Sonthi flip-flopped from earlier promises not to cling to power. In a television interview on 25 June 2007 he hinted at plans to enter politics after he retires as Army chief in September 2007, not denying a suggestion that a new political party might be created for him. The very next day, a group of allies and anti-Thaksin politicians launched Ruam Jai Thai (Thai Unity), a new party that “would not be unfriendly to the military”, as one put it.

In the months prior to July 2007, Sonthi co-chaired meetings of the Thai Cabinet, alongside Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont. He also 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 was planning to run for Parliament in the next election, representing Lopburi. General Pallop Pinmanee, Sonthi's advisor and director of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) was charged with building a support base for Gen Sonthi in Lopburi. ISOC staff were also sent to Northern and Northeastern provinces, political strongholds of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party, to persuade local politicians to defect from Thai Rak Thai and join political parties backed by the military.

Sonthi resigned as commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army on September 30, 2007. He was succeeded by General Anupong Paochinda. Sonthi resigned as chairman of the Council for National Security on October 1, 2007. He was succeeded as CNS chairman by Air Chief Marshal Chalit Pukbhasuk, the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Air Force. Sonthi accepted a post in the cabinet of Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont as deputy prime minister in charge of security.

The 2006 annual military reshuffle was delayed due to the political crisis, as caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra denied that he planned to remove Sonthi as Army Commander. Despite this, Sonthi consolidating his personal power base by transferring out 129 mid-ranking officers under generals that he thought were loyal to the Prime Minister. Some observers saw this as a message to the Government that Sonthi was still firmly in charge of the Army.

As late as May 2006, Sonthi publicly denied the need for a military coup:

After being appointed Army Commander in 2005, Sonthi expressed confidence that he could resolve the insurgency. He claimed that he would take a "new and effective" approach to a crisis and that "The army is informed [of who the insurgents are] and will carry out their duties." Sonthi was granted an extraordinary increase in executive powers to combat unrest in the far South. However, up to 19 September 2006, the Army admitted that they had no idea who the insurgents were. The drastic escalation of the insurgency during his leadership of the Army led to much public criticism of Army efforts.

Sonthi was also blamed for failing to rescue two teachers who had been kidnapped and severely beaten by a mob in May 2006. One of them, 24-year-old Juling Pangamoon from Chiang Rai, was long in a coma and attracted fame for the attention paid to her by the royal family of Thailand, finally dying from her brutal beating in January 2009.

In August 2006, after 22 commercial banks were simultaneously bombed in Yala province, Sonthi announced that he would break with government policy and negotiate with the leaders of the insurgency. However, he noted that "We still don't know who is the real head of the militants we are fighting with." In a press conference the next day, he attacked the government for criticizing him for trying to negotiate with the anonymous insurgents, and demanded that the government "Free the military and let it do the job." Afterwards, insurgents bombed 6 department stores in Hat Yai city, which up until then had been free of insurgent activities. As always, the identity of the insurgents was not revealed. On 8 September, Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit promised to give Sonthi increased powers to better deal with the insurgency. However, by 19 September 2006, the Army admitted that it still was unsure whom to negotiate with.

During the peak of the Thailand political crisis in February 2006, Sondhi Limthongkul, leader of the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), personally met Sonthi to request that the military intervene in the crisis. Afterwards, Sondhi claimed that Sonthi listened to him attentively and promised to consider his request. Sonthi later claimed that he was misled into receiving Sondhi, and had no intention to endorse the anti-government activists.

On 19 September 2006, Sonthi and other military leaders launched a military coup against the government of Thaksin Shinawatra. The coup-makers originally called themselves the Council for Democratic Reform. Tanks surrounded Government House in Bangkok and the military took over all broadcast media. Thaksin declared a state of emergency from New York City (where he had been attending a meeting of the United Nations), but his broadcast was cut in mid-sentence when the military seized the television station.

Sonthi and other junta leaders flew to Chiang Mai on an Air Force C-130 on 3 November 2006 to visit a prominent fortune-teller and perform a religious ceremony to ward off bad luck over their staging of the coup. The fortune teller, Varin Buaviratlert, had been Sonthi's long-time personal fortune-teller, and had foretold Sonthi's rise to become Army Commander. Amid falling popularity, Sonthi sent his wife and several CNS leaders to visit her on 1 April 2007.

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

In 2006, Thaksin Shinawatra sold his shares in telecom firm Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings. The sale also transferred control of Shin Corp's five satellites (including IPSTAR, the world's largest commercial satellite) and mobile phone operator to the Singaporean company. After the coup, Sonthi claimed that Singapore was eavesdropping on confidential mobile telephone calls made by junta leaders. AIS and Shin Satellite, Shin Corp's mobile operator and satellite operator, denied the claim. In February 2007, Sonthi vowed in front of a thousand volunteer territorial defence students to reclaim the satellites and other telecom assets. "Soldiers will not tolerate a loss of territory, not even a square inch," he said, and continued about how it was his specific duty to "retrieve our assets". Sonthi stopped short of threatening to nationalise the telecommunications conglomerate. An opinion poll found more than 78 percent of 1,116 Thais surveyed backed Sonthi's bid to somehow reclaim the satellites.

In August 2004, Sonthi was appointed Deputy Army Commander. Against public expectations, Sonthi was promoted to Army Commander in October 2005. Sonthi's fast rise was backed by retired armed forces Supreme Commander General Surayud Chulanont (with whom he had served while leading the Special Warfare Command and Privy Council President General Prem Tinsulanonda). Both serve as advisers to King Bhumibol Adulyadej. He later received a doctor's degree in political science from the open-admission Ramkhamhaeng University.

Coup-supporter Suriyasai Katasila of the People's Alliance for Democracy suggested that Sonthi skip the next post-election and wait for the one after it, if he is keen about entering politics. Fellow coup-supporter Chamlong Srimuang, whose 1992 protests against Prime Minister Suchinda Kraprayoon led to the coup-leader's downfall, declined to state his views on Sonthi's future political role. CNS sources claimed that as of July 2007, Sonthi had not made a decision about whether or not to run in the next election.

1970 - U.S. Army Commendation Medal, with Valor device

Sonthi Boonyaratglin graduated from the 6th Class of the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School. He graduated from Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy in 1969 as part of Class 17 and was commissioned into the Royal Army Infantry Corps. He went on to lead several top units, including the elite Special Warfare Command based in Lopburi province.

Sonthi Boonyaratglin (Thai: สนธิ บุญยรัตกลิน, RTGS: Sonthi Bunyaratkalin, IPA: [sǒn.tʰíʔ bun.já.rát.kà.lin]; born 2 October 1946) is a Thai former Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army and former head of the Council for National Security, the military junta that ruled the kingdom, of Iranian descent. He was the first Muslim in charge of the army of the mostly Buddhist country. On 19 September 2006, he became the de facto head of government of Thailand after overthrowing the elected government in a coup d'état. After retiring from the Army in 2007, he became Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of national security.