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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 000276 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
NSC FOR PHU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR TH
SUBJECT: BIO OF THAI PRIME MINISTER SAMAK SUNDARAVEJ 
 
BANGKOK 00000276  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
(SBU) The House of Representatives on January 28 elected 
People's Power Party leader Samak Sundaravej as Thailand's 
33rd Prime Minister.  (Note: Only 24 other individuals have 
held the post; some served multiple, nonconsecutive terms. 
End Note.)  Post offers the following unclassified biography 
of Samak; septel will provide analysis of his election. 
 
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BEGIN BIOGRAPHY 
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SAMAK SUNDARAVEJ 
 
(Phonetic: SAH-mahk SOON-tor-rah-wet) 
 
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand 
 
The House of Representatives elected Samak Sundaravej as 
Thailand's 33rd Prime Minister on January 28, 2008.  Samak 
won election after the People's Power Party (PPP), which he 
heads, won a significant plurality in December 2007 
legislative elections.  The People's Power Party campaigned 
on a populist platform devoted to continuing the programs of 
the disbanded Thai Rak Thai party.  PPP has also been widely 
seen as loyal to deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, 
who explicitly endorsed PPP in late 2007.  In August of 2007, 
Samak publicly described himself as a "nominee" of Thaksin. 
 
Samak was Governor of Bangkok from 2000 until 2004.  As 
Governor, he had ambitious plans for innovative housing and 
transportation projects, but he scored few successes.  As of 
January 2008, he remained under investigation for alleged 
bidding collusion relating to city garbage disposal 
contracts, and for alleged financial improprieties related to 
the city's purchase of fire trucks from Austrian firm Steyr 
Daimler Puch.  Following his term as Governor, Samak was 
elected as a non-partisan figure to the Senate in 2006, but 
the September 2006 coup d'etat resulted in the abolition of 
the Senate before its newly-elected members could be 
inaugurated. 
 
Prior to becoming Governor, Samak had won election as a 
Bangkok member of the House of Representatives 10 times, from 
1975 to 1996.  He also held various cabinet positions, 
including four appointments as Deputy Prime Minister in the 
early- and mid-1990's.  He was Deputy PM in 1992, during the 
brief government of coup leader General Suchinda Kraprayoon; 
according to press reports, Samak defended the government's 
shooting of students in the "Black May" demonstrations.  In 
the 1980's and early 1990's he served twice as Transportation 
Minister.  He served briefly as Interior Minister in the 
government installed following the 1976 military coup. 
 
Samak joined the Democrat Party in the late 1960's; he left 
the Democrat Party in the late 1970's and founded the Thai 
Citizen Party (TCP), which remained his political vehicle 
until the end of his term as Governor of Bangkok, although he 
resigned as Party Leader in 2001.  (TCP now is under the 
leadership of Samak's younger brother, Sumit Sundaravej; TCP 
failed to win seats in the House in the 2007 election.) 
Samak became Party Leader of the newly-formed PPP in August 
¶2007. 
 
Most Thais characterize Samak as a royalist and right-wing 
figure.  His father was a Palace official, and Samak has 
enjoyed close ties to both the Palace and the military.  He 
was staunchly and vocally anti-communist in the 1970's, and 
he called publicly for the use of harsh measures to suppress 
Thailand's communist movement. 
 
In the 1950's and early 1960's, prior to entering politics, 
Samak wrote political commentary for Siam Rath newspaper.  He 
also worked as a public relations officer at the Israeli 
Embassy in Bangkok.  After his term as Bangkok Governor, 
Samak co-hosted talk shows on television and radio; his shows 
 
BANGKOK 00000276  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
were widely criticized as politically divisive.  Samak also 
hosted a cooking show on television in recent years. 
 
Samak is outspoken and prone to blunt remarks.  He was 
convicted of defamation in at least four separate lawsuits 
from 1989 to 1993.  More recently, in April 2007, Samak was 
sentenced to 24 months' imprisonment after conviction on four 
counts of defaming then-Bangkok Vice Governor Samat 
Ratchaphonlasit, by accusing Samat of corruption.  Samak has 
remained free on bail while appealing this verdict; it is 
unclear when the Court of Appeals will rule on the matter. 
 
Samak was born on June 13, 1935 and was educated in Bangkok, 
at St. Gabriel School, Assumption Commercial College, and 
Thammasat University.  In 1968, he received a diploma in 
business administration from Bryan and Stratton College in 
Chicago.  He has a functional command of English.  Samak is 
widely known to be fond of cats and cooking. 
 
Samak's wife, Khunying Surat Sundaravej, has a professional 
association with the Charoen Pokphand agribusiness 
conglomerate.  The Sundaravejs have two daughters, one of 
whom works with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 
 
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END BIOGRAPHY 
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JOHN