Dear Friends and Family,

As you all are aware from NPR or the Seattle PI or CNN or wherever your news comes from, last Tuesday evening, the sun set on Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s government and at midnight that very same evening tanks rolled through the wide, usually crowded streets of Bangkok. News agencies (esp. western) were switched off, staff posed for pictures with tanks in foreground before being escorted away from their former employment at the Prime Minister’s office, and by sunrise the Thai constitution had been suspended, the Parliament unemployed, and a new regime was in charge of Thailand. A military regime headed by one General Sonthi Boonyaratglin.

I had permission to play hooky on Wednesday, still don’t have a news source at home, and missed the first day of reporting on this event.

On Thursday morning, I calmly switched on my computer and didn’t fail to immediately notice Google’s first news story regarding a coup in Thailand (coincidentally from the Seattle PI). I gasped - out loud and loudly. I avidly soaked in the gist, planned further reading, and next continued my routine checking of e-mail, discovering a good two dozen e-mail messages in my inbox. Several friends had not heard of my move from Bangkok to Daegu and were worried… but as you all know, while a scrap of my heart remains in Bangkok (or in my memories of), I’m safely away. My parents were vastly relieved that I was safely in Korea. So was I, mostly, although there was a part of me that was sorry to have missed, by weeks, the big Thai news story of the last 14 years. As this was a bloodless coup and as Thailand appears to be operating fairly normally, it would’ve been a fascinating political case study and I would’ve enjoyed observing and talking to Thais about this. Sadly, despite sharing a continent and even similar woes of democracies eclipsed by the maneuvers of militaries, Koreans and Thais do not particularly relate. Not to say that Koreans weren’t interested. They were. As the week drifted on, those who knew that I had been in Bangkok gingerly broached the subject with me. And when I took a few minutes from my routinely scheduled Bangkok pictures to discuss the Thai change in government, I found some students well informed of recent events.

Listen, really, something had to be done about Thaksin. A Thai Billionaire originally elected in 2002, Thaksin had managed to do some good by rural farmers and by his home town of Chang Mai, but his government was also plagued by constant corruption at the highest levels and he became very unpopular with the people. Especially in Bangkok. This last April 2006, Thaksin won re-election by reasons that bordered on fowl and has since faced accusations of lacking ruling legitimacy. Undaunted, Thaksin’s plan appeared to be to bluster his way through yet another scandal until he was called to a meeting with King Rama IX, who rarely dabbles in Thai politics and is all the more powerful for it. Not a day after that meeting, Thaksin announced his resignation for the “sake of national unity” and his self-appointment as “Care-Taker Prime Minister” until parliament selected a successor. He also promised another election in October. Problem solved. Yes?

Uh. No. Almost immediately, Thaksin started backing away from the promises he made in his dramatic speech. Within days of my arrival in June, a panel made big news by reporting that there was enough damning evidence for the Constitution Court to dissolve Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party. This didn't much dent Thaksin - who continued rhetorical back-peddling on the promised elections while causing fresh scandals on a regular basis by resuming his “normal” pre-election behavior. I recall with perfect clarity that one of the first stories I read in the Bangkok Post with the sun shining through the windows of the Wendy House café was that Thaksin had resumed his before-the-election prime ministerial radio show – and this had been added to the tally of actions that demonstrated that Thaksin had no intention of giving up power quietly nor easily. During my sporadic intake of news, I found that the Bangkok Post was reliable for its anti-Thaksin articles… corruption charges regarding hotel properties, problems with radical Islamists in the South, and a US DOJ investigative report (they do that?) regarding severe irregularities in connection with Thai acquisition of airport scanners from the US. Through all of this, Thaksin appeared to ignore the political brouhaha as much as possible and continue in his role as Prime Minister – oops, I mean Caretaker Prime Minister. Towards the end of my stay, I missed switching Skytrains due to absorption in a description of the previous day’s Thaksin antics re: a foiled bombing and one of the last articles I read before departing Bangkok was that Thaksin was on his way to tour economic development sites in the North – i.e. to Chang Mai. I must confess that while I never did establish a solid understanding regarding the governing of Thailand, Thaksin and Thai politics appeared quite chaotic to me.

Of course, I didn’t just derive my understanding of Thai politics from the paper. Although I was keen to learn how Thais viewed their political system, I respectfully never brought up politics. Happily, sometimes politics were brought up for me. I never heard any Thai say anything overtly negative about George W. Bush nor the US – with the exception of annoying Canadian Bushy-Bearded man…! Anyway, upon occasion, tuk tuk drivers or students or vendors made passing unfavorable Thaksin comments. One day in early July, one of my fellow teachers, not famous for his tact, and I by virtue of my proximity, had a very interesting conversation with one of our intermediate students: a gentlemen in his mid-20s, whom we called Tee. My fellow teacher asked Tee what he thought about Thaksin:

“Oh, he very bad. We Thais don’t like him at all.” Tee replied.

My fellow teacher nodded. “In Chang Mai they don’t like him either.”

“We Thais hope that he will soon go.” Tee added.

That was enough to unleash my curiosity. “Tee, do you like another political party? Who do you want to see replace Thaksin?”

“I don’t really like politicians and political parties. Our King is a really good man. I’d like to see him rule.”

“But Tee, the King is busy being the King. How can he be King and Prime Minister at the same time?” I asked.

Tee loftily informed me that the King could do anything he wanted to do. “He is King.” said Tee.

As I had understood that the King wasn’t actively involved in politics, I was very surprised by this conversation. I took Tee’s opinion seriously because he is by no means dumb – although my fellow teacher said and I couldn’t help but agree that Tee’s solution to the Thai political situation seemed naïve.

At that point in early July, all I knew about the King was that there were pictures of him everywhere, that I could be imprisoned for insulting him (happily, I never felt the urge – let alone in front of a police officer that spoke English), that His Highness was an avid dog fan, and that he had just celebrated his 60th year on the Thai throne. I imagined him a Thai version of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth. I hope that you all, gentle friends and family, will not make that same mistake. To do so would be to miss the key component to the success of this military coup: the tacit or stronger backing of the constitutional monarch, King Bhumipol Adulyadej. Officially known as King Rama IX, he is current longest reigning monarch in the world, is loved and respected, worshipped really, and is very much a unifying force of Thailand. And while he generally observes the Thai “democratic” government from the sidelines, when he speaks, the whole country listens. Apparently there was a military coup in the 1990s where after His Highness summoned the unpopular leader of the coup to a royal audience broadcast on live TV. That day the King managed to gently "politically vaporize" the general, who was soon replaced. Although the King is not currently in good health, the mere fact that the current general has not be summoned to crawl on his knees to the King on live television is a good sign for the general.

You may well ask: what was my initial reaction to the coup d'état? As I am not thoroughly-versed in Thai history, I was greatly surprised by the method (military coup) but was unsympathetic that Thaksin had gone and unsurprised that the King had tacitly backed the coup, and that Thai people appeared unfazed, happy even, to see Thaksin go. For a few seconds, I was even a bit envious that a thoroughly corrupt leader could be quickly and cleanly deposed. Of course, I was mentally deposing another deserving leader! But then I began to picture what I was envying: tanks occupying government buildings, suspension of a constitution, no free press coupled with military propaganda, important decisions in the hands of one powerful man, and remembered that although I do not believe that we, the people of the United States, have the right to impose democracy on others and although I believe that our own democracy is seriously flawed, I do believe in the right of citizens to make the decisions on behalf of themselves. So I can only hope that this general lives up to his word to hold elections that involve free choices for the people. Although I hate agreeing with the Bush administration on anything, I’m honest enough to agree with their cautious stance. On balance, I do not find snatching a corrupt leader adequate compensation for the death of yet another Thai fledgling democracy. I fervently wish better for friendly, beautiful, fast-paced, intriguing, wonderful Thailand.

Sadly,

Laura

PS: Note the flags in today’s pic: the flag of Thailand is the white, red and blue striped one while hanging opposite is the King’s (personal) flag which is yellow with a large, complicated crest in its heart. These flags decorate the Thai Parliament Building, which sits next to the Bangkok throne hall(s) and teak mansion that I previously mentioned. That entire complex of Thai governmental buildings, old and new, abuts the King’s residence and I presume, the Thai head of government’s (prime minister or general?) office and quarters.