Military Coup In Progress?

[ub2yoo]

Originally Posted by seafox

Maybe you might want to read up on all of those wars to see what was involved.

I agree with Marc. Better leave this out of this thread. That's all history.

I don't want to sound selfcentered, but just when everything in my life was going towards a serious decisions around Thailand, I'm more interested in where this all leads to.

[K2]

Public Holiday Called for 20th September - Bloomberg 03:06

The army commander Gen Sonthi Boonyarataglin staged a coup d'etat Tuesday evening (Thailand time) and ousted the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

A so-called "Democratic Reform Council" declared itself in control and declared martial law nationwide. Terse announcements said it included the commanders of all three armed forces and the police. It said the coup was necessary to correct "unprecedented division in the country."

The Council said there seemed to be widespread corruption, and independent agenies were subverted by politicians, apparently a reference to the Thaksin government. "The national government through the current administration has caused conflicts and undermined the harmony of the people as never before in history."

Public acceptance remained unknown. The coup occurred late Tuesday night, when Bangkok was under a major rainstorm, and few people were seen on the streets.

The opposition had scheduled a major anti-Thaksin rally for Wednesday. The last military coup, in 1991, was extremely unpopular and was overthrown by violent opposition in the streets.

Officers this time promised to hold power for as short a time as possible. An announcement over the name of Gen Sonthi, a Special Forces veteran long seen as apolitical, promised: "The council is steadfast in its objective, which is not to take over the government permanently and it will hand back the power to the people as soon as possible."

The Council repealed the 1997 "people's constitution" and dissolved both houses of parliament, the government and the constitution court. Announcements said the Council was under the King, and confirmed that the Privy Council and all courts except the Constitution Court remained in power.

(NOTE: Texts of the first three official announcements are at the end of this story)

Retired Gen Surayudh Chulanont, a respected former military commander now a member of the royal Privy Council, was announced as prime minister to replace Mr Thaksin. There was no early word how log the generals intended to remain in power, or what their reforms would be.

Mr Thaksin was in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, and had earlier tried to dismiss Gen Sonthi and order troops back to their barracks. His order, via a voice broadcast on TV and radio, was cut off halfway as the dramatic coup unfolded.

Tanks and troops of the Fourth Cavalry Battalion moved into strategic points in Bangkok, including the Royal Plaza.

Like most of the previous 19 military coups since 1932, there was no violence. Tanks surrounded Government House and apparently some newspaper offices. All broadcasting on local TV was interrupted, and replaced by a notice which stated the military takeover and apologised "for any inconvenience."

In the early hours of the coup, most other communications continued uninterrupted. But after several hours, all cable-TV broadcasts were cut, apparently because Mr Thaksin and other Thai ministers were giving interviews to CNN and the BBC, which are widely seen in Bangkok.

Thailand airports remained open, including the main international airport at Bangkok.

Thailand websites including the Bangkok Post were operating under very heavy loads as people tried to find out what was happening. The Bangkok Post newspaper was being prepared and printed for Wednesday morning. The front page headline was a huge, black and capitalised statement:

COUP D'ETAT

As always, local broadcast media contained no breaking updates.

Mr Thaksin said he would return to Thailand from New York. The shadowy coup administrators said he would not be allowed to resume his post as prime minister.

Sources told the Bangkok Post that Privy Council president Gen Prem Tinsulananonda had tried and failed to mediate between the coup forces and another army faction loyal to Mr Thaksin. Gen Prem was summoned to the Royal Palace.

The whereabouts of most of the members the government were unknown. Mr Thaksin, Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkol were in New York. Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Wannasathit, the caretaker premier, was reportedly detained by the military.

Text of Official announcements:

Announcements:

The national government through the current administration has caused conflicts and undermined the harmony of the people as never before in history.

Each side is determined to win by any means and the discord has shown a tendency to escalate.

Many people have been suspicious about the actions of the national administration under a constitutional monarchy.

The country has been governed in a way as to suggest widespread corruption. The independent agencies have been dominated by politics. The constitutional intention has been left unserved.

This has led to political activities becoming problem-plagued on many fronts and the situation had worsened to the point where violations against His Majesty the King, whom the people hold in the highest regard, are in danger of occurring. This is despite efforts by many sections of society to resolve the problem on a continued basis. The efforts have not pacified the growing tension, however. For this reason, the Democratic Reform Council with the monarch as its head, which comprises the armed forces leaders and chief of the Royal Thai Police Office, has found it imperative to seize the power of government from this point onward. The council is steadfast in its objective, which is not to take over the government permanently and it will hand back the power to the people as soon as possible.

The council is committed to preserving national peace and security and to upholding the monarchy whom we Thais hold in the highest respect.

First coup announcement:

In reference to the council's announcement of its power seizure earlier, for the sake of peace and order to prevail in the country, the council has imposed nationwide martial law. The council has repealed the state of emergency declared on Sept 19 at 9.05pm. This announcement is made by Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, head of the Democratic Reform Council.

Second coup announcement:

The council has ordered that all mobilisation and movement of military logistics and manpower be prohibited. Military personnel are absolutely not to leave their units without permission from the council.

Third coup announcement:

1. The current constitution, drafted in 1997, is now repealed.
2. The House of Representatives, the Senate, the Cabinet and the Constitution Court are now dissolved along with the abrogation of the constitution.
3. The privy councillors will remain in their duty.
4. The courts of justice, except the Constitution Court, will retain their full power to adjudicate cases according to the law and the announcements of the council.

Update time: 02:20 am Wednesday September 2006 Thailand time.

Bangkok Post Breaking News

That's it form me now - Good Night All - Hope for a Peaceful outcome for Thailand and its people.

(SET/Banks and Gov Offices Closed tomorrow - looks like an interesting week ahead).

[whuakito]

Originally Posted by Mr Lucky

Try that question again, only substitute the words Vietnam, Nicaragua, Israel, Iraq, Korea, .......have I forgotten any?

think that the USA has notjing to do with this thread,would you please keep it out.thanx

[crazyswede]

WoW Guys ... youve´been very busy to day from what i can see 555

When G/F saw the "news" on BBC with tanks on the streets and a thai guy smiling on his motobike she said: Awh , they make "movie sanook" in BKK now

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by whuakito

think that the USA has notjing to do with this thread,would you please keep it out.thanx

Any further posts in this thread mentioning the US and its past/present will be deleted.

Please stick to the subject of the thread,which may have consequences for the expats living there.
Thanks

[Paddy]

Looks like Thaksin isn't coming back now. It was obviously planned to take place while he was out of the country. Now he's persona non grata.

Let's see what the next guy is like. Right now, my guess is that things will go back to normal very quickly and it won't make much difference from the point of view of visitors.

[ub2yoo]

Originally Posted by Paddy

Looks like Thaksin isn't coming back now. It was obviously planned to take place while he was out of the country. Now he's persona non grata.

They also just said that he cancelled his speech at the UN conference completley now.

[wendlegee]

just wondering what affect this will have on any one buying property in phuket will i still be able to buy my little house or am i screwed still looking forward to coming over in november hope it is cleared up soon for sake of everyone

[georgelondon]

watchin sky news...all seems pretty peaceful. hope it stays that way.

[whuakito]

Originally Posted by dawsey

Any further posts in this thread mentioning the US and its past/present will be deleted.

Please stick to the subject of the thread,which may have consequences for the expats living there.
Thanks

this is what I was saying to the guy I quoted the post .maybe you misunderstud mine

[Nicke]

Thanks to Kevin for the updates, I was in the bar with Thai TV most of the night.

I watched BBC/CNN from 22:26 when Kevin alerted me, before midnight BBC and CNN was not available on either UBC (sat) or my cable.

The Army TV was shown on most Thai channels and channels cut off.

The girls didnt care much about was happening, and it looks like Thaksin is outed and the King will be involved to form a new government. Thaksin should have quit earlier instead of manipulating and trying to keep the power.

IMHO, Thaksin was once very popular but since he used the power to increase his own power and making rules/changes to benefit his own companies and strength at power everything changed. Relatives instead of qualified people took important positions and so on. Selling out his telecom business and avoiding tax.

Phuket got a lot more army presence lately but that was due to the bombings in the south, to increase security.

I hope and guess this will not be a big issue, Thaksin out and a new government will be formed, calmly and quiet without any violence. BKK and the elite is very much anti-thaksin, his supporters is in rural areas and north.

But at the moment, its seems to be accepted by the people and no big reactions at all from what I could see, althought surprised to see The Nation TV Channel broadcasting news with friendly army officials. Looked like The Nation knew what was going on.

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by whuakito

this is what I was saying to the guy I quoted the post .maybe you misunderstud mine

5555 Sammy,no misunderstanding, I quoted your post as I agreed with you.OK

[swiftdave]

It is a statement on the mentality of the Thai people that this is still bloodless, there are no reports of rioting and looting such as often accompanies this sort of thing, further, it seems the forces behind the coup have apologized for any "inconvenience".

All changes of power should be so peaceful.

[Nicke]

This is what I thinks too, for visitors everything will be normal and no difference.

Originally Posted by Paddy

Looks like Thaksin isn't coming back now. It was obviously planned to take place while he was out of the country. Now he's persona non grata.

Let's see what the next guy is like. Right now, my guess is that things will go back to normal very quickly and it won't make much difference from the point of view of visitors.

[dawsey]

Lets hope the newly elected government can do something to solve the unrest in the south of the country. Obviously Thaksin had little regard for them.

[whuakito]

Originally Posted by dawsey

5555 Sammy,no misunderstanding, I quoted your post as I agreed with you.OK

always ok with me,roger555

[JayBee]

It seems to me that Thaksin pissed off the King and this is his comeuppance.

I seem to remember a year or more ago when Thaksin presided over some big official event that traditionally only a member of the royal family was supposed to do. That is not a huge deal, but it was just an indicator of the hubris of Thaksin, who at the time was consolidating his grasp on power, and making his PM position more powerful than ever. He had the wrong attitude and did not show the proper respect for the king, IMHO.

The way he used every trick to remain in power this year is just further indication of his lust for power. When the generals said last week that the rumors of an impending coup were nothing more than idle gossip, Thaksin was either stupid enough to believe them, or saw the whole thing as a fait d'accomplit. I think he was just so full of himself that he didn't think anyone could unseat him.

[whuakito]

Originally Posted by dawsey

Lets hope the newly elected government can do something to solve the unrest in the south of the country. Obviously Thaksin had little regard for them.

had no regard at all thi's why thijgs have worsened during the last few years

[dawsey]

Originally Posted by JayBee

It seems to me that Thaksin pissed off the King and this is his comeuppance.

You aren't suggesting that the King instigated the coup are you?

Edit; I did read the rest of your post and remember the sequence of events.

[seafox]

Originally Posted by dawsey

Any further posts in this thread mentioning the US and its past/present will be deleted.

Please stick to the subject of the thread,which may have consequences for the expats living there.
Thanks

Thank You. It had absolutely no relevance to the thread. and it was a pretty stupid and uninformed comment.

And if you decide to delete this go ahead, no worries here.


As I said at the start of the thread, I hope everyone in LOS who is involved in the board is safe.

[JayBee]

Originally Posted by dawsey

You aren't suggesting that the King instigated the coup are you?

Edit; I did read the rest of your post and remember the sequence of events.

I don't think the king would do that. But still I am sure that certain people are privy to his opinions and I think that he was insulted by Thaksin, and probably had a low opinion of him, and of his actions during the crisis of the last six months. Therefore, the generals who staged the coup and their supporters most likely knew where they stood with the king before taking any actions. If they did not know where they stood with him beforehand, I don't think they would risk their behinds just to take Thaksin down.