After arriving home just now, a message came in on my mobile, "Coup in Thailand. Thaksin in NY".Wow... Looks like the event that everyone was expecting to happen finally did happen. Am I surprised? Most definitely not.
After the many months of political impasse, bomb plot against Prime Minister Thaksin, armed attacks in the south, something had to give. And this coup d'état was it, making it the 18th one since the first in 1932.
Tanks and troops, all wearing yellow ribbons or buntings to signify their loyalty to the king, have moved into strategic positions in Bangkok. A so-called "Democratic Reform Council" (or "Council of Administrative Reform") declared itself in charge of the country. The armed forces commander and the national police commander have also declared that they have successfully taken over Bangkok and all television stations seem to be in their control as well.
In a rather bizarre twist, the coup announcement on TV also included a request that asked for the cooperation of the public and their pardon for the inconvenience caused. Hmmm... How polite and considerate. How very Thai.
Most international news channels like BBC, CNBC and CNN were operating in the earlier hours, but they seem to have been taken off air though their reporters can still broadcast out of Thailand. Meanwhile, all programming on local stations have been replaced with images of the royal family and patriotic songs.
According to coup spokesman Lieutenant General (retired) Prapart Sakuntanak, the coup was necessary because Thaksin's government had divided the country and corruption was rampant. He also said that the armed forces' seizure of control was temporary and power would be "returned to the people" soon.
Meanwhile, the parliament has been dissolved, constitution suspended and martial law declared. All military personnel have also been ordered to return to base and report to their duty station.
Thaksin as yet has not decided when he would be leaving New York, where he is currently attending the UN general assembly, for Bangkok. His wife is however in Singapore while the whereabouts of his children are unknown at the moment.
Apparently, there are some factions in the army that are still loyal to the PM while others, like army commander and coup leader Lieutenant-General Sonthi Boonyarataglin (a Muslim and known to be close to the king) and his troops are against him.All the yellow ribbons and reported closeness to the king does not imply that the king necessarily supports this latest action. I would probably expect him to remain neutral and above the fray like always and only step in when absolutely necessary.
It has also been reported that the Privy Council president General (retired) Prem Tinsulanonda had tried but failed to mediate between the coup forces and another army faction loyal to the PM.
This of course set the country's democratic process back many years. After decades of military government and civilian ones in between that were overthrown by the military, it seemed that the country was pretty successful in keeping the military out of politics and leaving the government in the hands of democratically elected officials.
Is General Boonyarataglin the sole instigator? I doubt so. I think that there are more people in the background, both civilian and military, planning and executing this.
And who's responsible for the current mess? All the political parties, including Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai and the military of course. There's been too much political intransigence and obstinacy, especially on the part of Thaksin. And when the constitution does not provide a way out of the mess, what will? The military? They obviously think so.
But it is interesting to note that some politicians seem okay with it. And the former PM Chuan Leekpai even placed the blame for the coup squarely on Thaksin. Of course it remains to be seen whether all Thai citizens support this latest development or not.
Maybe something good can come out of this. Maybe the impasse would be broken.
This is of course dependent on the coup plotters keeping to their word that they are here to restore democracy and not take over the government completely like they had before. In which case, I can only imagine it getting worse because that will not sit very well with a lot of Thai civilians.
The last coup that place the military in power in 1992 saw many students and civilians organising a rally around the Democracy Monument in Central Bangkok to protest against it. In what was later known as Black May, troops fired onto these protestors and many died as a result while some others are still missing.
In any case, Nation.VI in Phuket like dat how? Get the military to throw the party and provide security and go go boy/soldiers as well? :-D
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