Thailand, 1984 — dissident coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 4 July 1984, during a period of intense military factional tension under Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda of Thailand, between the 1981 Young Turks rebellion and the September 1985 coup attempt. Prem, a retired general who had survived the April 1981 coup attempt and multiple 1982 assassination attempts, presided over a rivalry between his ally General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and the faction around Supreme Commander Arthit Kamlang-ek and General Pichit Kullavanich, with a race under way to succeed Arthit as forces chief. In July 1984 the Royal Thai Police arrested 22 former Communist Party members and the prominent intellectual Sulak Sivaraksa on a lese-majeste charge, moves tied to the factional maneuvering intended to discredit Chavalit over the communist amnesty policy.
On 15 September 1984 police arrested Young Turks leader Manoonkrit (Manoon) Roopkachorn on charges of an attempted 1982 assassination of Queen Sirikit, Prem, and Arthit. The 4 July 1984 coding sits in this 1984 climate of factional plotting and conspiracy against the Prem government, in the lead-up to the September 1985 coup attempt.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
80007041984
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Prem survived the 1984 factional plotting and the September 1985 coup attempt, remaining prime minister until 1988.
Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
Wall Street Journal
New York Times
LA Times
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →