Is it not contradictory that a miitary coup in Thailand was done supposedly in support democracy? It sure seems contradictory to me, yet the populace mostly appears to support it, as there’sbeen no street protests, no media outrage. Of course, maybe with tanks in the streets, they wouldn’t dare. The US is waffling, saying they don’t support the coup yet isn’t calling for the PM to be reinstated. Not that the internal affairs of another nation is any of their business in the first place.
Will the military really give up power in two weeks, as they’ve promised? That’ll be the tell. Also, the miltary will appoint someone to be PM. Will he continue the reforms that have been implemented or be the poodle for ‘free trade?’ Lenin’s Tomb thinks the latter.
Update: The military is now saying they will stay in charge for a year regardless of who they appoint to run the caretaker government. So much for any pretense of democracy.
There are some aspects of this coup that I must disagree with – freedom of speech and press has been denied (no gatherings of more than 5 people without permission, though unsure if this was from before the coup, as well as suppressing of websites and media that criticize the coup). However, this coup does have much support from within Thailand, regardless of what other nations have to say about it. A recent poll states a 83.9% support of the coup, especially since the King has endorsed it.
Given the amount of support from the people, isn’t this coup in a way democratic? Thaksin was a corrupted billionaire, who used his position for his own personal use, took control of the police force (head of the Police Commission) and was gradually taking control of the military by pushing forward his own men into top positions. I cannot say if this was the only or the best way of handling the situation, but for
people who are not in Thailand, or know little about the country, you should do a bit of research before making negative statements. The King has endorsed it, the King who has no political power, but much moral power of the people, because he is good and just.
The tanks are for show, the tanks were shown in newspapers and on TV. True they are here, but note where they are placed. They are also placed near where I live, and I feel no fear nor stress from their presence. They are there in case Thaksin supporters decide to head into Bangkok, and are strategically placed in order to prevent this, and bloodshed. The locals give them food, people take pictures with them and their tanks, and the soldiers help the children climb on top of the tanks so that they can play there.
The people support this, which is why I feel it is a pity that they are suppressing the media, and I hope that people outside of Thailand may understand that this isn’t a terrible thing. With the support of the people, this is as close to democracy as the nation can get to for the meantime, and Thaksin, with his vote-buying and corruption, was in no way representing democracy. As long as the military do let the elections happen in a year’s time, I think
Thailand will be peaceful. It is actually quite peaceful now – schools and banks were closed the day after the coup, but things were back to normal a day later. Even the day after the coup, markets were open, people were shopping, eating, going out as usual, with little concern.
Whoever may say that the coup is worse than what Thaksin has done to the country, which is such a peaceful nation, should research further to find out the extent of his corruption. Thailand is lucky to have such a revered King, who may have no power politically, but when he says something, it’s worth listening to. That is why the coup is peaceful, not just because the people listen, but because their King gave the go ahead.
Thank you.
It’s good to read what Mr./Ms.YH expressed in this page.
“A very beautiful democracy” is not happened in one day but we took time. It’s a very good lesson learn to others. Before going to critic on something ,we have to know it’s context first.
When you get a PM. from election , it doesn’t mean this PM. will surely bring the actual democracy to you. Election is the only thing we use for being one process of democracy, but not the full democracy called an election. For example, Thailand, we have the mostly part being a grass-root class. They have no education and fulled with dept. Thaksin tried to keep them fool by done nothing the improve their education. And, moreover, Thaksin give them many chances for not paying dept. Time by time, this made them used to borrow too much money from village committee and go to buy mobile phone (which Thaksin being a bigboss in a big very big mobile company) , go to buy motorcycle, go to buy car and etc. without paying dept back to the village fund. The poor love Thaksin so much but don’t know what he had done to this country. Beside this, he cheated on everything he could cheat. For example, cheating on the new airport project , agricultural products of farmer, housing for poor people project, and etc. (which I could not type in only one day.). Therefore, this shown nothing he’d done to improve democracy, but he is the opposite to democracy.
Democracy came from the voice of people. What people do anxious , he don’t pay attention. He paid attention only what he will gain from the anxiety of people.
I hope I’m wrong, that both of you are correct, and that things work out peacefully and without a military dictatorship.
To say the military will stay in charge for a year is a little misleading.
A “military-backed” rule is not rule by the military. They will appoint a Prime Minister (approved by the King) to be a caretaker until the elections. PM Thaksin has been a caretaker since April, so it’s a replacement of him. I am not arguing that this is democratic or not – just clarifying the point made above.
To say the military will rule sounds like military dictatorship. Perhaps that is what will happen, but let’s hope not. It’s surely not what has been promised.
For a background to this coup, see http://politicalworld.wordpress.com
A Bloodless Coup d’État for Thailand…
By definition, a coup d’état is the sudden overthrow of a government by a part of the state establishment – usually the military. In a coup, the top leaders of government are expelled but government institutions are preserved. A coup is notably …
Obvious the previous Prime Minister wasn’t doing such a good job if he was being accused of widespread corruption and human rights abuse. In my humble opinion, the Thai people took it into their own hands to rectify the situation before it could get any worse. The fact that the military looked to their King for his blessing and is seemingly moving to transition power to a another Democratic style government shows that they have and want their country to move in the right direction. The detainment of several individuals from the former regime is a safguad the military is taking to ensure no outside influence or the former PM’s “croneys” try to throw a monkey wrench into the works.
The many heads of state that have negatively commented on the coup should have nothing to say, especially the United States. Just because the US is a superpower does not give it the right to meddle in the affairs of other countries. “Might does not make Right”. As we can see in this long and drawn out “War on Terrorism” the Bush administration is conducting in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US government is using its international influence to forcefully sponsor its own version of democracy in other countries while neglecting more serious issues at home with its own citizens.
My point being this, the world should keep its mouth shut and stay out of the affairs of Thailand. Let their people choose their own government their way and not be forced into forming a government by outsiders that will benefit no one else but foreign interests.