what's going on in Thailand?
shiraz
Posts: 528
Evryone is reporting about some tanks on the streets. What is happening over there? God, I hope it is not another civil war :(
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No rumours. A state of emergency was called, soliders were reported to break into the govt offices.
Tuesday 19 September 2006, 18:29 Makka Time, 15:29 GMT
More than 10 tanks have blocked roads around the government headquarters in Bangkok and an army-owned TV station has suspended regular programming amid rumours of a coup in Thailand, witnesses said.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister, has ordered troops not to move around the country illegally and has declared a state of emergency, Reuters news agency reported.
Officials said Thaksin was planning to return from New York on Thursday, a day earlier than scheduled. They did not give a reason.
Army television broadcast images of the royal family and songs associated in the past with military coups instead of normal programming.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9B4EC959-DD9B-44FF-B47C-C941F3ED2999.htm
this is what im confused about. who is the military loyal too? the structure of the government sounds really messed up.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/19/thailand.coup.rumor/
Rumors of coup attempt in Thailand
POSTED: 12:17 p.m. EDT, September 19, 2006
BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Tanks have been seen rolling through the streets of Bangkok, Thailand, on Tuesday amid rumors of an attempted coup, witnesses tell CNN.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra -- currently at the U.N. headquarters in New York -- went on a government-owned TV station and declared a state of emergency, The Associated Press reported.
According to officials at the Thai mission at the United Nations, Thaksin has moved up his speech to the General Assembly to Tuesday night and will return to Bangkok after his address.
He had been scheduled to address the assembly on Wednesday.
Thailand operates as a constitutional monarchy, with the king as head of state and the prime minister leading the government. The country is an ally of the U.S. and contributed troops to the U.S.-led military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Thaksin has been under considerable pressure to step down.
Elections in Thailand are scheduled for November after the country's constitutional court ruled April's vote was unconstitutional.
Thaksin had called for the elections in April, three years early, after opponents accused the billionaire leader of abusing the country's system of checks and balances and bending government policy to benefit his family's business.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2006/09/19/2003328301
Tourists cancel holidays to Thailand in wake of blasts
NEW TARGETS: In a shift in tactics, rebels targeted Thailand's tourism sector, killing four and injuring 72
AFP , HAT YAI, THAILAND
Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006,Page 5
Hundreds have canceled holidays in southern Thailand after a series of weekend blasts ripped apart a tourist area, killing four people and wounding dozens, officials said yesterday.
"Malaysian and Singapore[an] tourists, who are majority of our customers, have canceled their reservations, citing the bomb scares," a receptionist at Hat Yai's Novotel Central Hotel said. "Before this, we were fully booked every weekend."
Thai police have yet to make any arrests over Saturday's attacks in the main southern tourist hub of Hat Yai.
The unrest continued on Sunday night as militants torched school buildings, including a daycare center, and destroyed several vehicles.
An attempt to bomb a military convoy in southern Thailand's Narathiwat province -- one of three Muslim-majority provinces gripped by an Islamic insurgency -- was also made, police said.
No one was hurt in the attacks, which police said were meant to spread fear among a nervous population that has already been shaken by daily shootings and bombings.
More than 1,400 people have been killed since January 2004, and experts warn the violence appears to be intensifying.
Saturday's bombings killed four people -- three Thais and a Canadian, who was the first foreigner to die in the insurgency.
Thailand's Health Minister, Pinit Jarusombat, said 14 other foreigners were among the 72 wounded, including six Malaysians, three Singaporeans, three Britons, an Indian and an American.
The bombers targeted bars and restaurants popular with tourists in what experts say marked an escalation in the insurgency, which had so far targeted mainly police or military, but not foreigners.
Officials warned that with the latest attacks, the region's tourism sector has been dealt a serious blow.
"Apart from the cancelation of existing bookings, we are afraid that the latest attack in Songkhla [Province] would affect ... tourists' decision to come to Thailand," Apichart Sankary, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said.
Thailand's Tourism Authority called yesterday for more security measures at airports and tourist destinations.
On Sunday, Thailand's Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn made a rare public visit to Hat Yai where he spoke with residents and tourists, offering the royal family's support.
Thailand's US$12 billion-a-year tourism sector is only just recovering from the Christmas 2004 tsunami, which devastated much of the kingdom's western coastline.
BANGKOK, Thailand September 19, 2006, 12:54 p.m. ET · The Thai military launched a coup against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Tuesday night, circling his offices with tanks, seizing control of TV stations and declaring a provisional authority pledging loyalty to the king.
An announcement on Thai television declared that a "Council of Administrative Reform" with King Bhumibol Adulyadej as head of state had seized power in Bangkok and nearby provinces without any resistance.
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 via a government-owned TV station.
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.
A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said army Commander-in-Chief Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin had used the military to take over power from the prime minister.
Massive rallies earlier this year forced Thaksin to dissolve Parliament and call an election in April, three years ahead of schedule. The poll was boycotted by opposition parties and later annulled by Thailand's top courts, leaving the country 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, Boonyaratkalin, sought to ease speculation that 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," Boonyaratkalin said at the time, echoing comments of other top military officials. "Military coups are a thing of the past."
Thaksin, who had been scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday night, switched his speech to Tuesday at 7 p.m. EDT.
On Monday, Thaksin had said he may step down as leader of Thailand after the upcoming elections but would remain at the helm of his party, despite calls for him to give up the post.
In Bangkok, several hundred soldiers were deployed at government installations and major intersections, according to an Associated Press reporter.
Army-owned TV channel 5 interrupted regular broadcasts with patriotic music and showed pictures of the king. At least some radio and television stations monitored in Bangkok suspended programming.
The cable television station of the Nation newspaper reported that tanks were parked at the Rachadamnoen Road and royal plaza close to the royal palace and government offices.
"The prime minister with the approval of the cabinet declares serious emergency law in Bangkok from now on" Thaksin said by television from New York. He said he was ordering the transfer of the nation's army chief to work in the prime minister's office, effectively suspending him from his military duties.
Thaksin's critics want 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 complain a key national asset is now in 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 Thailand's 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 country's Buddhist majority.
Bhumibol, a 78-year-old constitutional monarch with limited powers, has used his high 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 mid-June that were attended by royalty from around the world.
Many Thais are counting on him to pull the country through its current political crisis, which has left it with no functioning legislature and only a caretaker government after a divisive, 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, the beloved king 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.
See what happens when there is a king and you still have a government. They just can't coincide.
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
It was a peaceful coup thus far, however who knows what will happen. There has been a lot of political problems here recently, and this is just the next step. This is the thrid coup here in the past 27 years.
All laws as of 9 years ago have been desolved and Marshal Law has been declared. My cable has been turned off so the PM who is in NYC can not get on TV, but fortunately I still have the internet. The only thing on Thai TV is patriotic King videos and songs, and occasionally somebody from the military will talk...
I will try to keep things up to date if anything happens...
of connecting dislocations
and exceeding limitations
by achieving levitation
stay safe and thanks for the update. hopefully things stay peaceful
Prapart said the armed forces and police had set up a body to decide on political reforms, ousting billionaire telecoms tycoon Thaksin in the midst of a political crisis stemming from accusations he had subverted Thailand’s 74-year-old democracy.
“Never in Thai history have the people been so divided,” Prapart said.
“The majority of people had become suspicious of this administration, which is running the country through rampant corruption,” he added.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14906669/
NB: comments from people there:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=3911&&&edition=1&ttl=20060920013934
http://www.sabaidi.net/thai_coup.htm
of connecting dislocations
and exceeding limitations
by achieving levitation