Feature Prem was at the Lopburi Artillery Centre to unveil a statue of former Prime Minister Phibun Songkhram when the attack occurred. The rocket hit a tree and Prem was unharmed. Five soldiers were arrested and charged with attempted assassination and illegal possession of war weapons. • A new government policy gave more freedom to students, the media and political factions, including communists, in order to encourage and promote democratization and weaken the communist insurgency. The policy emphasized political strategies over military force and guaranteed freedom to former insurgents who had recently returned from the jungles. August • Another assassination attempt was made on PM Prem when a hand grenade was thrown into his house from a nearby army club. The explosion caused some structural damage to the building but no one was hurt. Asked about the attack, Prem said: “Anyone who faced such an experience would be shocked.” September • Mukdahan was designated as the 73rd Thai province. Before that this new northeastern province was a district of Nakhon Phanom province. The new governor of Mukdahan promised to focus on development and the suppression of insurgency and crime. December • A powerful bomb exploded in the office of former Iraqi consul and prominent Thai businessman Lek 80
TheBigChilli
1982 (December) Lek Nana
Nana in Bangkok’s Chinatown. Police bomb disposal expert Police Lieutenant Colonel Surat Sumanan was killed when he tried to defuse the bomb, which was placed in a briefcase. At least 20 other people were injured. Mr Nana was not in the office at the time. The blast damaged the building and the fire that followed damaged five other buildings. Nana’s office had formerly been the Iraqi consulate. The bombing was suspected to have been connected to the ongoing Iran-Iraq War. In the same year Mr Nana became secretary general of the Democrat Party under party leader Bhichai Rattakul.
1983
was the year the American School of Bangkok was founded, along with entertainment giant GMM Grammy and Land and Houses, a property development company. A special operations hostage rescue and counter-terrorism unit of the Royal Thai Police known as Naraesuan 261was launched.
to hold the other passengers hostage and demanded a new plane and a new pilot, parachutes and 300,000 baht. As their deadline expired, the hijackers seized a pickup truck and drove away with the hostages, who were later released unharmed. Police arrested a man said to be the mastermind a week later. He said he wanted to hijack the plane because he had been unfairly treated by colleagues and wanted to prove he could do whatever he wanted. • The first 3,500 barrels of oil from Sirikit oilfield at Lan Krabue in Kamphaeng Phet province arrived at the Bang Chak refinery in Bangkok in 19 tank carriages. Authorities said the locally produced and refined oil would reduce Thailand’s reliance on imports and save hundreds of millions of baht in foreign exchange. March • The first ATM machine in Thailand was installed by Siam Commercial Bank beginning a new era in personal banking in Thailand.
• It was revealed Januar y that famous movie• Three Thai star Petchara 1983 (March) Petcha ra Chaowarat men armed with Chaowarat was knives boarded a Thai Airways almost blind. She made dozens plane and took seven passengers of movies during a career that and four crew hostage at Lampang spanned two decades. Petchara airport and demanded to be flown suffered from cataracts caused by to Chiang Rai. They were told the glare from light reflectors in front of cameras. In 1960 she made the plane had to be refueled in her first movie, Love Diary of Chiang Mai. After the plane landed Pimchawee, and instantly became at Chiang Mai two pilots jumped a major star. onto the tarmac and two flight attendants and one passenger escaped through the rear door of • Parliament was surprisingly the plane. The hijackers continued dissolved when PM Prem called