31 December 1991

Vol.99, No.1
WASSAP! Bangkok, Thailand Price 199 .-

GORBACHEV
RESIGNS
The Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev announced his resignation as president of the
Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991 because of the ongoing decline in power of the country.
Posted on 25, December, 1991 by Somjit A.
Gorbachev finally resigned as the
Soviet Union’s first and last executive
president after nearly seven years in
power. Although there were many mis-
takes and long-lasting effects, especially
leading to the dismantling of the country,
he insisted that he was right by coming
up with the reform programs and had
no regrets towards everything he had
done during his term. He also warned
the fifteen independent countries that
were in former Soviet Union about the
dangers of pulling apart from the unitary
state in his farewell address.
He pointed out that the establishment
of Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) was the primary motive for his
resignation. He could not agree with
the policy of dismembering this country
and disuniting the state. “I’m concerned
about the fact that the people in this
deal with,” he said. But in reality, Gor-
bachev has been losing much power
for quite a long time before the CIS
was established. Starting from March
1985, when he opposed the hard-liners
in his government and provoked the
citizens by introducing the reforms that
supposed to help in the wobbly situa-
tion of the country but unfortunately
made it worse. Also, there was a coup,
led by Russian Federation president
Boris Yeltsin, against him in August
1991. Even though it was a fail coup,
it still took away some of his power
and prestige too.
As a result of the resignation, Yeltsin
took over the Kremlin and other Soviet
government facilities including nuclear
arsenal, and the red Soviet flag at the
top of the Kremlin was lowered for the
last time, replaced with the Russian
on and spread widely as much as before
or not, since the general secretary of the
Soviet Communist Party had resigned
from the position and no longer had
power to do such activities anymore.
For Thai people, this was a huge
event which could affect the world
as a whole at once, because it’s not
just the resignation of one country’s TV announcement
president, but it was the leader of the
world’s first communist state. It was a
of Gorvachev’s
great opportunity for other countries resignation on
to be in power, because one of the 25 December 1991
two superpowers had been weakened,
almost discarded. There would be more
than enough space for small countries
to show off and shine in the global
scale, especially in economic areas,
9 DEATHS AT ARIZONA
and hopefully Thailand could be one
of those countries too. BUDDHIST TEMPLE

Posted on 11, August,

On 10th August 1991, shortly after 10 a.m., total of nine Thai people,
country are ceasing to become citizens flag, symbolising the end of Soviet

of a great power and the consequences
may be very difficult for all of us to
1991 by Somsri B.
including seven monks and two immigrants, were found shot to death
Union. Communism was in a great
at Wat Promkunaram, buddhist temple in Waddell, Arizona.
concern, whether the it would be carry

THE END OF
The temple is a single-story temple flying into Phoenix to tend to fami-
Posted on 2, April, 1991
located in Waddell, near the suburbs lies of the victims and the temple’s
by Somsak D.
of Phoenix, Arizona, which mostly members too.
serves Thai immigrants. It contains This mass murder was the sorrow-

WARSAW PACT
On April 1st, the Warsaw Pact,
military alliance between the
Soviet Union and its Eastern
European satellites, was
announced to be dissolved
after 36 years in existence.
Since the general secretary of the
communist party of the Soviet Union,
Mikhail Gorbachev, came up with a
reform program called Glasnost that
provided countries under control of
the Soviet some political freedoms,
those countries then began to make
independent decisions regardless of
the Soviet. Hence, when the member
countries from Eastern European, such
as East Germany, Poland, Czechoslo-
vakia and more, started to withdraw or
indicated their desire to leave the pact,
along with the unstable political and
economic situation inside the country,
It was inevitable for the Soviet Union
to dismantle the Warsaw Pact.
It started from the meeting of the
Warsaw Pact countries in Budapest
on February 25, aiming to make the
agreement formal. Consequently,
The Soviet military commanders had
relinquished their control of Warsaw
Pact forces, then the pact’s Political
Consultative Committee agreed on
dissolving the Warsaw Pact on March
31. The official announcement of the
1991 by Somchai P.
Poosted on 24, Feb,
The representatives from former members
eventually agreed on dismantling the Warsaw Pact.
dissolution came out on 1st of April,
as the Soviet president Mikhail Gor-
bachev’s spokesman, Vitaly Ignatenko,
said to the reporters that “April 1 will
be more than just April Fool’s Day.”
After the pact ended, the Soviet
Union tended to lose power to control
over many countries, especially those
in Europe, which might unfortunately
lead to the dissolution of the country
itself in the end too. As a result, the
Idea of communism would not spread
as much as before, because the other
communist countries might not have
courage to do so, for the reason that
they’ve lost the great support from prior
major power, the Soviet Union. Also,
since the world used to be in bipolarity,
between communism and capitalism,
and now that communism tended to
make a slip, It could be implied that
there will be more influence from the
USA and the capitalist side on the
world more than ever.
It’s a good sign for Thai people that
our world is moving more towards
peace, because the everlasting conflict
between major powers and some of the
post-war effects has begun to come to
an end. It’s way better than to extend
the fight and separation of the world,
because if not, there would be more
and more lost, and may inevitably
lead to the involvement of countries in
Asia, then Thailand would be severely
affected after all too.
a worship area, living room, kitchen
and several bedrooms. On that day,
the dead bodies were found at the
living room of the temple by a wor-
shipper, Chawee Borders, who had
brought flowers to the temple in that
morning. “They were all lying dead
on the floor,” she said.
The police suspected that the shoot-
ings were related to ongoing violence
among Asian youth gangs in the area,
but there was no clear evidence about
the gang involvement. “We have no
idea who would have done it,” said
Prakong Garland, one of the temple
member. Moreover, it was doubtable
that the motive of this action is rob-
bery, since the temple was believed
to contain an unknown quantity of
valuable things like jewelry, gold and
artworks. However, at the moment,
there was also no noticeable evidence
that any property was taken too.
It caused a sudden shock to people
nearby, because it was considered
as the worst massacre in Arizona’s
history. So, approximately 100
members of the temple kept a vigil by
the temple promptly after the crime
was reported. Meanwhile, Buddhist
monks from temples elsewhere, like
in Los Angeles and Chicago, were
The location of
Wad Promkunaram
in Waddell,
Arizona, USA.
ful tragedy for all Thais, including
those in the area and in Thailand. It
didn’t just simply take away Thai
people’s lives, but it also despised
their religious beliefs towards
Buddhism by attacking the holy
place, their temple, and killing the
missionaries, their monks, too. They
hope that the investigators will do
their best to arrest the ones who
were involved as soon as possible,
so they will be harshly punished
paying for what they’ve done.
If the news is widely spread,
and the police still can’t draw a
conclusion, it will definitely affect
people’s perspectives and further
lead to dissatisfaction and distrust;
they will lose faith in the security
system of the state. So, It’s con-
cerned that the effect might expand
to the bigger things like the stability
of the government if this situation
is prolonged. As a result of pressure
coming from citizens and high
authorities, the police will intently
continue the investigation, with the
help from people around the area,
until they can firm the real motive,
weapons, criminals that led to this
slaying.

THE PRIME MINISTER OF At around 11 a.m. yesterday, the current Thai prime

THAILAND WAS ARRESTED

minister, Chatchai Choonhavan, was eventually arrested by
the National Peace Keeping Council, as a result of citizens’
dissatisfaction towards the government.

Chatchai Choonhavan has been ruling the
country as the prime minister since 4 August
1988, becoming the seventeenth prime minis-
ter of Thailand. During his term, the country’s
economy was extremely prosperous, aiming
to be the Fifth Asian Tiger after South Korea,
Hongkong, Singapore, and Taiwan. However,
there were more and more critiques about the
transparency of the parliament all along, which
therefrom led to the enhancement in people’s
indignation.
After rumour about seizing the government’s
power was widely spread for a while, on 23
February 1991, the Coup d’etat finally happened
on a C-130 plane while the prime minister was
bringing General Arthit Kamlang-ek, Thai
army commander, to take an oath of allegiance
to King Rama IX at Chiang Mai province. The
NPKC took a total control of all guards on the
plane and arrested the president.
The main reason contributing to NPKC’s
decision to form this military coup against
the civilian elected government is remained
controversial. The NPKC claimed that it’s
because of the government’s dishonest actions
such as corruption, intervening the designation,
terminating the parliamentary dictatorship and
overprotecting the military. However, some
thought that it was just to seize power for their
own benefits among those who are in power.
According to one of the eyewitnesses, “The
coup was proceeded placidly, and the citizens
of Thailand felt ecstatic and greatly appreciated
with what the NPKC has done.” Citizens of
Thailand are satisfied by this action of arresting
this unlawful prime minister, in order to carry
on the process of getting rid of long-lasting
corrupting tradition among Thai politicians.
However, they still feel worried about the
consequences that will follow this action on
their own country. Most people think that it
will definitely affect the way parliament works
and maybe lead to the change or abolishment
of the current Constitution of the Kingdom of
Thailand too.
The picture of the prime minister of Thailand,
Chatchai Choonhavan