The coup is being led by Thai army chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, who announced that the military and opposition Party of Democratic Reform were taking over while Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was in New York for a U.N. meeting. The army chief declared himself as the new country's leader this morning
From what Ive heard the Prime ministe that is being overthrown deserved it and it was attempted earlier to get him out of office by diplomatic means becuase the PM was corrupt and taking advantage of his position for personal gain but they couldnt do it diplomatically so a military coup was necessary, the military seems peaceful and has the interest of the nation and people at heart unlike the PM, So I am hoping that the corrupt PM takes his billion dollars and never returns. Also religion has nothing to do with this coup.
I'm reading an interesting article on this at http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/70406.html. It has some good background information for those of us who don't know the overall political situation.
That's all true and well written in the link as provided above but at the other hand a coup is a coup and can never be justified without any previous and dangerous unrest.
But all the banks and goverment office is closed down. The traffic is very quit and people stay indoors looking at TV. If the PM should try to come back he would arrive tonight and then it might have some problem but for now its peace.
It will be the King who will have the final sayings. It is serious to stage a coup in a so called democratic environement. There may be troubles ahead and a split of the armed forces as well as the police forces. Lets hope that it will be resolved peacefully. I saw in the morning monks handing out amulets to soldiers in the midst of tanks.
It sounds like the PM was none to popular and as long as a plan and reasonable timeframe for holding new democratic elections is laid out quickly nobody will really object too strongly to this coup. The PM would be a fool to return to Thailand. He'd be better off going into exile in some country and enjoying the billions he probably has hidden in various bank accounts.
Time is the most important issue now. I'd say, if it takes longer than 2 days to get a right overall orientation for the next steps, then it will be a very dangerous situation. People may reason it as an army dictatorship. I personally don't believe in promises which are resulting out of a coups and/or excuses for it.
Having a constitutional monarch kind of throws an odd wrinkle into this coup. The Thai king has been around for a long time and he has seen many coups come and go. I imagine he is very skilled at dealing with these things.
He's highly respected by all because of his services for the people. If there would be anything mentioned against him, the country would burn for him. One time Thaksin tried to take over the funds and management of the donations made to the Kings family and their projects to only burn his nose by this attempt.
Then it is unlikely that the coup took place without his complicity and it is unlikely that those involved with the coup would do anything against the king's wishes. Really the only volatile factor is the prime minister and whether or not he decides to resist the coup.
They going to speak with the press now. BBC and CNN still down i guess beucase they do not want the ex PM to speak from outside Thailand. The ex PM has support from 50 % of the voters even if they are farmers the educated people do not like him, but grass roots do.
They have frozen all his assets and now he want to come back on the 22nd. Taking away money from him even he stole it hurts him most, he doesn't care about the nation but $$$
Arnie are you Thai or are you just living in Thailand, i do not see the same things as you do I am sure they have not taken his money with no trial and if he comes back maybe they going have a corruption case. If he comes back with Armed forces then we have a war in Bangkok. Tomorrow they say should be a normal working day for all if nothing happen tonight. If the ex PM is in London he can be here in 12 hours.
I said, "frozen" and not taken (that was on TV 2 hours ago). Thaksin is still in New York, his daughter in the UK, his wife in Singapore. Borders to Laos and Burma are closed since today morning. Strikt censorship for all medias, both foreign and local. Martial law was declared and curfew. No meetings with more than 5 persons are allowed (up to six month imprissonment).
There's a rumour that the army will be in power for 2 weeks and then hand it over to the people. Hope that this comes true. In situations like this there's always a danger to find reasons or stirr up new troubles in order to not have to leave power. Crucial point for the country. 2 weeks can be very long time and the level of patients may lower and turn into frust and anger quickly in many. As the King said today, 2 days should be the borderline and everything should return to normal by then. The big question is: Is that possible? The whole country is in a vacuum and if that gets stoked with the wrong fuels then we may face a strong and bad furnace.
Some students are holding a "peaceful rally" in siam square tonight. The say they have the right to do this. They are not with the former PM but they do not want the COUP. Lets see what the new leaders do about this. Are they going to arrest 100 students for 2 years? I hope not Now everyone is waiting for there next move and i hope the next move will be stop censur my TV !!
The coup leader said around 10 days before his coup in an interview that coups are things of the past and will not happen again. How trustworthy is he? Even as recently as last week, amid growing tensions in the wake of an alleged bomb plot against now-ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Sonthi was quashing coup rumors. "Has the situation gone to that point? No. There is still a way to go by democratic means," the 59-year-old officer said then. "We should stop talking about it. It is impossible."
Thing is. He better be trusted 'cos of his influence... But an important thing to consider is that he's pledged allegience to the King and the Thai people are very protective of the King. So he'll follow through.