General Ruangroj Mahasaranon (born 28 March 1946; ) is a retired

Thai army The Royal Thai Army or RTA (; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. History Origin The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's sovereignty. The army was formed in 187 ...

officer. From 2005 to 2006, he was the Supreme Commander of the Headquarters of the

Royal Thai Armed Forces The Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF; ; ) are the armed forces of the Kingdom of Thailand. The Highest Commander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces (จอมทัพไทย; ) is the King of Thailand. The armed forces are managed by the Minist ...

. Following the

2006 Thailand coup d'état 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

, the ousted

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Thaksin Shinawatra Thaksin Shinawatra (, ; born 26 July 1949) is a Thai businessman and politician who was the 23rd prime minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006. Since 2009 he has also been a citizen of Montenegro. Thaksin founded the mobile phone operator A ...

, attempted to put Ruangroj in power until Thaksin returned. However, Ruangroj was later named the chief advisor to the

Council for Democratic Reform The Council for National Security (; ; abbreviated CNS (), was the military junta that ruled Thailand between its coup d'état against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on 19 September 2006 until the later coup d'état on 22 May 2014. Thaksin w ...

(CDR). In August 2006, Ruangroj visited the junta leader,

Than Shwe Than Shwe (; ; born 2 February 1933) is a retired Burmese army general who held influential positions within Myanmar's government. Serving as the chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) from 1992 to 2011, he played a signifi ...

, in

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, ostensibly to discuss border issues. In August 2007, he surprised everyone – especially the junta – by his new political career as one of vice-leaders of People's Power Party.

References

Living people Ruangroj Mahasaranon Ruangroj Mahasaranon Ruangroj Mahasaranon 1946 births Recipients of the Darjah Utama Bakti Cemerlang (Tentera) {{Thailand-bio-stub