Thailand's Military Ousts Prime Minister
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sep 19, 4:30 PM EDT
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Thailand's Military Ousts Prime Minister*
By GRANT PECK
Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Thailand's army commander staged a coup
Tuesday night and ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra while he was
in New York, circling his offices with tanks, declaring martial law and
revoking the constitution.
Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, who is known to be close to Thailand's
revered monarch and is a Muslim in this Buddhist-dominated nation, took
power without a shot being fired. He will serve as acting prime
minister, said army spokesman Col. Akara Chitroj.
"The armed forces commander and the national police commander have
successfully taken over Bangkok and the surrounding area in order to
maintain peace and order. There has been no struggle," the new leaders
said in a statement on national television. "We ask for the cooperation
of the public and ask your pardon for the inconvenience."
As soldiers and armored vehicles moved through drizzly Bangkok, the
military declared a provisional authority loyal to King Bhumibol
Adulyadej, calling itself the "Council of Administrative Reform."
The council, it said, soon return power to a democratic government but
did not specify what reforms they would carry out.
The military ordered all troops to report to their duty stations. There
was no sign of resistance to the coup in the hours after it was
announced late Tuesday.
The coup leaders also said all schools, banks and the stock market will
be closed Wednesday. Civil servants, including permanent secretaries of
ministries, heads of state agencies, and heads of universities in the
Bangkok metropolitan area were ordered to report to the council on
Wednesday morning.
Akara said Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit had been removed
from his post.
An army general, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the situation, said Chitchai and Defense Minister
Thammarak Isaragura na Ayuthaya - two Thaksin loyalists - had been arrested.
"The government is no longer administering the country," Akara said.
Thaksin, who has faced calls to step down amid allegations of corruption
and abuse of power, was in New York at the U.N. General Assembly, and he
declared a state of emergency in an audio statement via a
government-owned TV station in Bangkok in a vain attempt to stave off
the coup.
Thaksin, who had been scheduled to address the General Assembly,
canceled his speech.
Government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee, who was with Thaksin in New
York, said the coup leaders "cannot succeed" and was confident they
would fail "because democracy in Thailand has developed to some ...
measure of maturity."
At least 14 tanks surrounded Government House, Thaksin's office. A
convoy of four tanks rigged with loudspeakers and sirens rolled through
a busy commercial district of Bangkok, warning people to get off the
street for their own safety.
The coup went largely unnoticed in Bangkok's popular tourist districts,
where foreigners packed bars and cabarets, oblivious to the activity
about two miles away. But word raced among street vendors hawking
T-shirts, who packed up their carts quickly and started heading home.
Hundreds of people gathered at Government House, taking pictures of
themselves with the tanks.
"I don't agree with the coup, but now that they've done it, I support it
because Thaksin has refused to resign from his position," said
university student Sasiprapha Chantawong. "Allowing Thaksin to carry on
will ruin the country more than this. The reputation of the country may
be somewhat damaged, but it's better than letting Thaksin stay in power."
The White House was monitoring the events closely, "but the situation at
the moment is unclear," said Frederick Jones, a spokesman for President
Bush's National Security Council. "We look to the Thai people to resolve
their political differences in a peaceful manner and in accordance with
principles of democracy and rule of law."
Former Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, and a member of the opposition
Democrat Party, said Thaksin had forced the military to act.
"As politicians, we do not support any kind of coup but during the past
five years, the government of Thaksin created several conditions that
forced the military to stage the coup. Thaksin has caused the crisis in
the country," he told The Associated Press.
It was the first coup in Thailand since 1991, when an attempt by Prime
Minister Suchinda Kraprayoon, a military general, to retain power was
countered by mass street demonstrations and Suchinda's ouster. After
that, the military vowed to remain in its barracks, in contrast to
earlier decades when military coups were a staple of Thai politics.
Tuesday's coup came a day before a major rally - the first in months -
was to take place in Bangkok by a anti-Thaksin coalition.
Massive rallies earlier this year forced Thaksin to dissolve Parliament
and call an election in April, three years early. The poll was boycotted
by the opposition and later annulled by Thailand's top courts, leaving
it without a working legislature.
Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party twice won landslide election victories, in
2001 and 2005 and had been expected to win the next vote on Oct. 15,
bolstered by its widespread support in the country's rural areas.
In March, Sondhi sought to ease speculation the military might join the
political fray, as it last did in 1992 and more than a dozen other times
during earlier crises.
"The army will not get involved in the political conflict. Political
troubles should be resolved by politicians," Sondhi said at the time,
echoing comments of other top military officials. "Military coups are a
thing of the past."
On Monday, Thaksin had said he might step down as leader of Thailand
after the upcoming elections but would remain as partly leader, despite
calls for him to give up the post.
The first sign of the coup came when army-owned TV channel 5 interrupted
regular broadcasts with patriotic music and showed pictures of the king.
Later, several hundred soldiers were deployed at government
installations and major intersections in Bangkok.
Thaksin's critics wanted to jettison his policies promoting
privatization, free trade agreements and CEO-style administration.
Opposition to Thaksin gained momentum in January when his family
announced it had sold its controlling stake in telecommunications
company Shin Corp. to Singapore's state-owned Temasek Holdings for a
tax-free $1.9 billion. Critics allege the sale involved insider trading
and complained a key national asset moved to foreign hands.
Thaksin also has been accused of stifling the media and mishandling a
Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand that flared under his rule.
In the mostly Muslim south, separatist insurgents have waged a bloody
campaign that has left at least 1,700 dead, mostly civilians, since
2004. Citizens there have complained of rights abuses by soldiers and
discrimination by the Buddhist majority.
Bhumibol, a 78-year-old constitutional monarch with limited powers, has
used his prestige to pressure opposing parties to compromise during
political crises. He is credited with helping keep Thailand more stable
than many of its Southeast Asian neighbors.
He is the world's longest-serving monarch, celebrated his 60th year on
the throne with lavish festivities in June that were attended by royalty
from around the world.
Many Thais had been counting on him to pull the country through its
political crisis, which has left it with no functioning legislature and
only a caretaker government after the inconclusive election.
Bhumibol was born in Cambridge, Mass. He became the ninth king of
Thailand's Chakri dynasty on June 9, 1946, succeeding his older brother,
Ananda, killed by an unexplained shooting.
Since then, he has reigned through a score of governments, democratic
and dictatorial. He has taken an especially active role in rural
development.
In 1992, demonstrators against a military strongman were gunned down
before the king stepped in to end the fighting and usher in a period of
stability.