Given current speculation about possible contenders for the next Thai Prime Ministership, a brief profile of ex-commander-in-chief and now Privy Council member Surayud Chulanont in Time Magazine’s Asian Heroes series makes fascinating reading, particularly for his reflections on the role of the military in politics. The profile, written in 2003, concludes:
There are periodic calls for the man who tried to remove the military from politics to enter the political arena himself. Surayud doesn’t rule it out, but for now he plans to trade in his fatigues for saffron robes and become a Buddhist monk. After so many battles, he wants to seek peace.
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