THAILAND: A Victim of Bad Reviews

Thai Politician-Publisher Kukrit Pramoj 13 years ago took a respite from statecraft and journalism for a brief fling at the movies. In the film version of The Ugly American, Kukrit got surprisingly good reviews for his portrayal of the democratic Prime Minister of a mythical Southeast Asia nation called Sarkhan. The movie Prime Minister was besieged and almost overthrown by Communists, largely because of a meddling U.S. ambassador (played by Marlon Brando).

Last week, as Thailand held parliamentary elections, life exceeded reel politics. Kukrit, 65, Thailand’s Prime Minister for the past year, was upset in a bid for reelection. A major reason for his loss was that once again he had run afoul of Americans. This time the issue was the U.S. military presence in Thailand. To improve relations with Thailand’s two Communist neighbors—Laos and Cambodia—and reduce protests from Thai leftists, Kukrit last month ordered the U.S. to close its bases and trim personnel from the present 3,500 (down from 49,500 at the height of the Viet Nam War) to 270 military advisers. Alarmed by the Communist threat, many Thai voters as well as the country’s powerful military bosses apparently disagreed with the Prime Minister’s neu-tralistic approach.

Kukrit, who heads the right-of-cen-ter Social Action Party, lost to his older brother—and political enemy—Seni Pramoj, 70, leader of the conservative Democrat Party. The Democrats swept all 28 National Assembly seats in Bangkok—including Kukrit’s—and won 114 nationwide. Three military-backed parties agreed to join the Democrats in forming a Cabinet, which means that Seni will control at least 206 of the 279 seats in Parliament.

The urbane, silver-haired Seni has been Prime Minister twice before—briefly. He appeared as surprised as anyone by Kukrit’s unexpected defeat. “The people felt my brother’s government just wasn’t firm enough,” he told TIME Cor respondent William McWhirter last week, “but to be fair, they did the best they could.” Kukrit had trouble governing the country almost from the time he took office in March 1975 as successor to Seni, whose government had lasted only eight days before losing a vote of confidence. Kukrit’s Social Action coalition included 17 parties, a bloc obviously too diverse to be effective. While its factions bickered, rice prices doubled, the economy sagged, housing shortages increased, and the army threatened a coup.

Kukrit called a new election in hopes that he could form a more workable coalition. The witty and energetic Prime Minister was an odds-on favorite to win again; he is widely respected as Thailand’s most skillful politician.

Alarming Tales. Kukrit, however, was overwhelmed by public concern over law, order and security. Terrorism is on the rise, and there were 34 political murders during the two-month election campaign. More important, Communist insurgents are operating in border provinces, where refugees fleeing Cambodia (see following story) tell alarming tales of Communist brutalities.

Seni Pramoj announced last week that he intends to “review” the American position in Thailand. But that will not solve all his problems. Students and labor unionists who overthrew an entrenched military regime in 1973 and later backed Kukrit may stage new protests unless the government takes steps to solve the country’s economic problems. If the army intervenes to put down demonstrations, more trouble will follow. Many Thais fear that the aristocratic Seni, an Oxford-educated lawyer who dabbles in poetry, music and sculpture, is too passive and ethereal to cope with the country’s troubles.

Thus there are fears that sooner or later the army may move to seize power. “There is nothing to prevent them if they have a mind to do so,” Seni told McWhirter last week. “They, after all, have the guns.” Seni knows this all too well —he was Prime Minister for a scant four months in 1946 before being ousted by a military coup.