Blogging the democratic revolution
It was a weekend of a lot of explosions. Outside of the bomb attack at the Madrid airport, nine blasts went off across Bangkok, killing and injuring dozens of people. It is another question of why and who, as essentially both the former government as well as the opposition is out of power following a military coup in September. It could be either, and while the former opposition to ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was known to commit such acts, the military is blaming it on Thaksin supports. In this case, either makes sense, and such an attack by Islamists from…
It is traditional thought to immediately consider a military coup bad because they usually are. Take the many horrors of Africa and Latin America, for example. There have certainly been ambiguous exceptions, such as Pinochet’s coup in Chile which still inspires much debate. But nowadays things are a bit different. Military coups are occurring for the explicit purpose of creating national harmony and moving forward with democracy. Look at Guinea-Bissau and Mauritania, where coups have led directly to increases in civil and political liberties with a progression toward elections. The most recent coup that inspired international condemnation was in Thailand,…
Below this is an email from a cousin of mine and his friend who is currently studying and working with an NGO in Thailand. He leans to the left, as you may notice, but provides a great description of what it’s like on the ground level after the military coup. Plus, he knows his stuff. Take a look. ***** by David Ferris & Terri Bennett For those of you who don’t know, I found out last at 11PM that there was a military coup here yesterday. The military’s top general (Songthii) lead tanks into Bangkok, declared a coup, and took…
I don’t think many people will be scratching their heads about the coup in Thailand, at least if the entire ordeal is about what we think it is. The events leading up to this make it clear. The impasse of Thai politics in which Prime Minister Shinawatra is accused of corruption yet hugely wins polls anyway, leading to mass protests, has caused one election already to be ruled invalid. Since then not much has happened, but it has created a certain political vacuum in which case both sides are preparing for a repeat of 1992. Perhaps the army really is…
Thai military tanks surrounded the presidential house as Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra made a speech at the United Nations in New York. Source: Reuters, via News.com.au Goodbye, democracy. Thailand’s military has launched a coup to overthrow the government. All the good English language Thai Web sites, like The Bangkok Post and The Nation are down, probably from huge traffic. The U.S. stock market, fearful of what events in Thailand can do to world markets, is falling over this. A well-placed correspondent in Bangkok right now e-mails to me: It’s the army commander, overthrowing Thaksin. Nothing to do with Islamofascists or…
Front Page, The Bangkok Post, June 9, 2006 Today, millions of Thais turned all of Thailand into a sea of gold and yellow, wearing the colors of the widely loved Thai king, His Royal Highness Bhumibol Adulyadej on the 60th anniversary of his reign. Fishermen vowed to give up fishing endangered fishes in honor of the king. Prisoners were freed. Golden barges made rare sailings. Buddhist monks made blessings. The king addressed his subjects for the first time in 20 years, for he doesn’t say much. And he exhorted them to be kind to one another, a most divine and…
Breaking news… Source: ETNA The Thai prime minister announced he would quit after the messages from the streets and apparently because the King told him to. A shame, because just 14 months ago, he was very popular and I liked him in some ways. But amid public perceptions of shamelessness and corruption after a $2 billion profit-taking deal in Singapore, he dropped himself into this. The Thai people have gotten their message out loud and clear that a leader must be not just clean but above the very appearance of corruption. Leaders cannot hide behind legal technicalities as a basis…
Thailand’s got snap elections today for prime minister, a manuever by the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, to take advantage of a disorganized opposition that wants him out but doesn’t have much of an alternative to present. Vast protests have been taking place in Bangkok over the past six weeks. Prominent leaders of the 1992 democracy-now revolts have been seen at them, and the King has voiced a veiled displeasure with both sides in this. Today’s the snap poll, which amounts to a referendum on Thaksin. Most of the opposition saw through the maneuver and word now is that they aren’t…
It may be the final hours for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand, who has been the target of the biggest protests in Bangkok since 1992. Thaksin is the billionaire prime minister of the country who had amassed huge power and a large mandate, but who disappointed his people by his continuous involvement in his business dealings. The Nation reports that the end is near in its continuous and excellent liveblogging of the event from Bangkok. The link is here. UPDATE: This Newsweek essay, by an investment banker, is very good, here.
Source: The Nation It’s morning in Thailand, land of the free, and the biggest rally of the year is engulfing the mighty angel city of Bangkok. Hundreds of thousands of protestors are marching in a bid to force the resignation of Thaksin Shinawatra. Things are getting very tense and the King is starting to stir. In one particularly dramatic development over the weekend, the government TV station interrupted its normally scheduled program to run footage of the King’s peacemaking role in the 1992 riots, which was the last time there was major unrest in Thailand. That was taken as a…
A bomb went off in central Bangkok near the home of Prem Tinsulanonda, an adviser to Thailand’s King Bhumibol and a former prime minister. Three cars were trashed and a British tourist was slightly injured. The bomb had been positioned under a bench near a security guard booth but by ‘coincidence’ all three security guards were inside the house. Some are blaming ‘terrorists,’ and unpopular Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is blaming his opposition for the attack. As the first reports come out, it’s extremely hard to say, it could be any of this, or other things. It does have the…
Worker unions at major state electricity and water companies are preparing to hold an informal strike against the government to force Prime Minister Thaksin to resign. They threaten that, should Thaksin resist, unions from other major state companies will go on strike as well. BANGKOK (Reuters) – The heads of government electricity and water unions backing a campaign to oust Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra threatened on Monday to call informal strike action this week unless he quits. Union chiefs at three state power and two water firms would be urging members to take holidays from Tuesday to join the…
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are gathering in Royal Square in Bangkok at this very moment, calling from Prime Minister Thaksin to resign over a deal that sold off Thailand’s largest telecommunications company to a Singapore firm that netted his family $1.7 billion in profits due to the use of tax loopholes. The protest could gain to hundreds of thousands, even higher than other protests that have been ongoing in the past several weeks. Even the Dharma Army, a foundation of monks tens of thousands strong that helped topple the 1990’s military dictatorship, has joined in and is vowing not…
Source: The Nation It’s getting bad again in Thailand. The Bangkok Post says the crisis is deepening. The opposition to billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, led by rival media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul, is giving Thaksin till Saturday to resign or they will chase him out. About 50,000 demonstrators filled the streets Sunday, and another 25,000 filled the streets Monday. All credible analysts point to 1992-style violence, the memory of which is pretty grim. An old monk-general who led that 1992 People Power revolt against what was then Thailand’s tinpot generals, has recently resurfaced at rallies and people are starting to…
Thais have had it up to here with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and 100,000 people are now in the streets demanding his resignation. The billionaire-army cop-turned prime minister has used his office to pocket billions for himself in yet another ‘Corporate State’ business deal while the rest of Thailand languishes in the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 that continues to depress wages – despite some economic growth. Thaksin isn’t the worst leader I’ve ever seen, but he has intolerable autocratic tendencies in a country whose very name means ‘freedom’ and a truly atrocious record on freedom of…
Ten thousand angry middle class Thais rallied to demand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s resignation. They are accusing him of corruption and abuse of power. They’ve had it up to here with Thaksin, a billionaire businessman and once-enormously popular prime minister who has amassed power in the wake of the 1997 Asia Crisis, which began in Thailand, and has since eroded civic freedoms. The Thais are rallying around around Songla Limthongkul, a former business partner and former political ally of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Songla is a media mogul who’s appalled at the his former partner’s business deals (a rumored $2…