Thailand Update
CLP Bloggers Offer a Look at Thailand's Bloodless Coup
I found out last night at 11PM that there was a military coup here in Thailand yesterday. The military’s top general (Songthii) led tanks into Bangkok, declared a coup, and took power from Thaksin, the now former Prime Minister, with the support of the Thai military. They also took over all of the television stations, preventing Thaksin from communicating with the people, and issued their own referendum.
When I first heard this news, it was exciting, since there is a huge amount of opposition to Thaksin here, especially among the leaders of the NGOs we’ve been dealing with and the Thai staff here at our program. There has been quite a bit of corruption and false promises and pushes to liberalize the economy here that have resulted in popular opposition. Thaksin is often compared to Bush, and his role as a puppet of international capital neoliberalism is never underestimated.
One of the parties that has played large role in the resistance, which I am sympathetic to, is the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD). When I was reading the news last night, it sounded like they were part of the coup, which to an extent, sounded promising. However, from what I understand right now, and will likely become clearer throughout the day, is that a small faction of this party broke from the decision to NOT aggressively take over the government, although I think they still did it under the PAD name. Now there is something called the Council for Democratic Reform Under Monarchy, which I’m not sure was even an entity before yesterday, which has taken power.
The leaders have declared an “Abolition of Assembly”, prohibiting any meetings of more than five people that are political in nature. The formation of political parties has also been banned, and laborers, students, and farmers have been given an order not to congregate. Students, however, are encouraged to “aid the formation of democracy under the monarchy.
They abolished the senate (the last vestige of an elected power here) and revoked the 1997 constitution. This effectively means that no one here has any clear rights. The king is in support of the coup, which has, so far, been bloodless. The king gives the green light for any coup. He is never behind it, but still gives the green light. 15 years of NGO work on behalf of the Thai poor in opposition to government corruption and neoliberal trade practices has just lost the foundation of its legitimacy. No constitution, no government in this case, means that decades of struggle for the rights of villagers, and the progress that had been made, may be lost. Public opposition to state policy is not looked highly upon by most military regimes.
Coup leaders have recently stated that Thailand will return to civilian rule in two weeks under the governance of a Prime Minister appointed by Songthii, and the duration of this new Prime Minister’s reign will be one year while the constitution is rewritten. By whom? It is not certain. Many are doubtful of the sincerity of this statement, as Songhtii stated approximately one month ago that he did not support the military overthrow of former Prime Minister Thaksin. The truth remains to be seen, and for many Thais (and any number of the millions of foreigners who find themselves here), this will be a long two weeks of martial law.
There are some people who believe that Thaksin was behind the coup, and that it is part of a grand plan to solidify the support of a divided population. A huge protest had been planned for today in Bangkok. There are others who believe that the king, who tacitly communicated that he was not a Thaksin supporter, is trying to leave a progressive legacy, and ousted Thaksin in order for a more “liberal” or “progressive” party to take office. Either way, temporarily, the army general is the new PM. Everything is wrapped in the royal yellow; everything appears to be endorsed by the monarchy. The people go about their lives almost as normal.
Thaksin was at the UN when this happened, and was not allowed to speak, because he was no longer recognized as the leader of Thailand. Some claim that he will go to the Philippines to figure out what to do next, i.e. establish an exiled government, work to guarantee whatever replacement Prime Minister is chosen is as capital friendly as he. Several of Thaksin’s cabinet members have already been arrested. The perpetrators of the coup undoubtedly will not confess to any crime, even in the name of legitimizing a constitution written by and for the people of Thailand.
We write from Khon Kaen, 4 hours away from Bangkok, completely safe. In fact, one of the most alarming things is how much everything seems like normal. This is also disturbing because is pretty illustrative of the kind of apathy things like this are met with when a nation has been subject to as many coups and forceful changes of power as Thailand has. This is the 12th coup, since 1932, when the absolute monarchy was transformed into a constitutional one. Some newspaper articles describe the mood in Bangkok to be festive, with tourists taking pictures of themselves with tanks and soldiers.
It happened like clockwork. Thailand’s fifteen years of relative stable democracy was up.
Terri Bennett and David Ferris are students studying abroad in Khon Kaen, Thailand, in a program focused on the human and social effects of globalization and large scale development projects. Terri studies at Brooklyn College in New York, and David is a student at Knox college in Galesburg, Illinois. Both Terri and David are concerned at what the coup may mean for the future of their program, whose model relies heavily on the freedom to meet and talk to actvists and political groups, as well as politically active villagers.
Visit the Bangkok Post’s Website for more on the situation in Thailand.
© 2006 The Common Language Project