Sonthi outsmarted Thaksin at the eleventh hour

The following article was written by Thanong Khanthong for The Nation newspaper on the 22 Sept 2006.

We still maintain our view that Thaksin has done a lot of good for Thailand, and has really tried to clean up Thailand's image, and improve quality of life for the Thai people. But he was also Thailand's leading entrepreneur trying to make himself wealthy as any business man would. To want the best for both your country and your own business must be difficult to manage, and we think Thaksin fell to using his position and power to make the best for his own business.

Had Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM) leader General Sonthi Boonyaratglin not moved as fast as he did to stage a coup on Tuesday, Thaksin Shinawatra would have launched his own coup a day later. Don't be fooled by Thaksin's claim that he stands for democracy.

As the political crisis developed to the point of no return concerning whether Thaksin should stay or be booted out, General Sonthi had no choice but to swallow his words about the days of military coups being over. He had been very reluctant to resort to a coup, as he was known not to have any political ambitions. Moreover, he was not known to be an enemy of Thaksin. Although General Sonthi has a good relationship with both Privy Council President General Prem Tinsulanonda and Privy Council member General Surayuth Chulanont, he came to power partly due to a political compromise struck with Thaksin.

However, an intelligence report reached General Sonthi's camp stating that there would be bloodshed on Wednesday. The People's Alliance for Democracy had planned to hold a political rally that day at the Royal Plaza in order to force Thaksin out of politics. Had that rally taken place, there would have been clashes between the People's Alliance for Democracy and Thaksin's supporters and blood would have been spilt on Rajdamnoen Avenue. If only Thaksin had promised that he would take a break from politics and allow a period of political reforms to take place, the PAD and other branches of the anti-Thaksin movement would have declared victory. All political confrontations would have subsided. Thaksin could have run for office once the Constitution was amended, and he would have been returned to the premier's post, probably in the latter part of next year.

However, Thaksin never considered taking a break from power. Again, don't be fooled by his "taking a break" story - the idea never crossed his mind.

The General Sonthi camp learned that during the PAD rally, Yongyuth Tiyapairat and Newin Chidchob were planning to rally their supporters to create an ugly scene at the Royal Plaza. During the ensuing commotion, there would be human casualties. Thaksin would then have stepped in and declared a state of emergency, placing the country under martial law.

Now you can understand why he had time to prepare his state of emergency statement and read it at 9.20pm on Channel 9 from his New York hotel room. You can also understand why Yongyuth and Newin are now at the top of this country's most-wanted list and have surrendered themselves to the CDRM for interrogation.

Once the situation was under his complete control, Thaksin had planned to fly back yesterday in order to declare victory over anti-democratic elements in society. He had a military reshuffle list in hand that would have further consolidated his control over the military. With that accomplished, everything would have been easy. Virtually all institutions in the country would have been under his directive.

From his New York hotel, Thaksin was preparing to deliver an address at the UN Assembly. The room instead turned out to be the headquarters from which he attempted to launch a counter-coup and negotiate a political settlement. In New York, he planned to recruit top-notch American political consultants to advise him on his political campaign for the next election, which would have been pushed back from October 15 to some time in November.

Thaksin's talk of taking a break from politics was simply lip service. He told the Thai public he would decide whether to take a break from politics only after his Thai Rak Thai went to the Election Commission to register as candidates. This means Thaksin would have liked His Majesty the King to endorse a new election date before he made his decision.

Members of the Thai elite and the PAD, however, would not allow this to happen. If Thaksin were to run in the next election, he would have won. With 12 million votes or so, he would have claimed a democratic majority and he also would have stayed on as prime minister. After that he could rewrite Thai history by turning Thailand into his own regime.

General Sonthi had to act fast to head off Thaksin's coup. He staged a military coup on Tuesday, a day before the bloodshed was set to take place. He and Thaksin did have a telephone conversation on Tuesday evening, with Thaksin trying to buy time and negotiate a settlement.

He told General Sonthi that if he kept his cool, Thaksin would take a break from politics. He asked Sonthi to wait until he returned from New York so that the two could talk things out and said that he would reschedule his return flight to Bangkok to Wednesday, instead of yesterday as he had planned.

General Sonthi was polite, but told him that he had no choice, that he had to stage the coup.

In the meantime, Thaksin was checking on his military allies, who had control of Bangkok, for the most part. He remained certain that in a military power play, he could still emerge the victor. Maj-General Prin Suwannathat, commander of the First Infantry Brigade, is a close ally of Thaksin and he holds the most powerful military post in Bangkok. The commanders of the Air Force and the Navy are also good friends of Thaksin.

General Sonthi had the support of Lt-General Saphrang Kalayanamit of the Third Army, who had been outspoken in his anti-Thaksin remarks. The Third Army is in charge of all military operations in the North. Another key ally of Gen Sonthi is Lt-General Anupong Phaochinda of the First Infantry Division in Bangkok. Maj-General Sanit Prommas, the commander of the Second Cavalry Brigade, also came to play an important role in the power play to seize the capital.

Troops from Prachin Buri and Lop Buri were also mobilised to the capital to assist in the coup, the decisive outcome of which was ironically the victory of thaharn ban nok (upcountry military).

As it turned out, all of Thaksin's military allies, most notably Maj-General Prin, had been marked out - they could not move. General Ruengroj Mahasaranont, the supreme commander and a Thaksin ally, was to look after Bangkok once Thaksin had declared martial law. He too was subdued. Chidchai Vanasatidya and Prommin Lertsuridej were unable to launch any sort of counter effort.

Thaksin's wife Khunying Pojaman Shinawatra was supposed to take a 12am flight to Singapore on Tuesday night. She quickly changed her flight to 9pm. Well, Gen Sonthi had to let her off the hook.

Twenty-five minutes later, knowing that his wife was safely on an aircraft bound for Singapore, Thaksin read out his state of emergency address from his New York hotel room, effectively sacking General Sonthi.

But an hour later, General Sonthi declared a counter-coup to overthrow the Thaksin regime and tear up the Constitution.

The rest is history.

Thaksin causes division and destroy unity : Royal Order

The following article is taken from The Nation newspaper on the 22 Sept 2006.

BANGKOK: -- Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin Friday entered a ceremony to officially receive His Majesty's the King's endorsement of his leadership as leader of the Council for Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM).

In a ceremony broadcast on TV pool, Army Commander in Chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin stood before a shrine to HM the King while Adjutant Generals Department's Adjutant Maj Gen Manote Premwongsiri read out the Royal Order.

"Gen Sonthi informed HM the King that Thaksin Shinawatra as the prime minister severe division within the nation and destroyed national unity. This is something that has never happened in the country's history," according to the order as it was read out

Most people believes that his administration was plagued with irregularies and corruption. Political interventions on independent bodies were rampant under Thaksin's watch. These interventions have created conflict and division. Many parties have tried but failed to accommodate the matters.

Therefore, the armed forces, police and civilian have decided to seize advministrative power under the leadership of General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the head of the Council of Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy.

For the sake of peace and national unity, HM the King has issued the Royal Order for General Sonthi as the leader of the Council of Democratic Reform under Constitutional Monarchy.

We urged the public to remain clam and we asked that all government civil servants support General Sonthi Boonyaratglin.

In white uniform, Sonthi -- flanked by other officers -- kneeled and bowed before a portrait of the king above the flower-bedecked shrine.

Analysts say royal support for the coup is the main reason why there has been no violence. Soldiers patrolling the streets have tied yellow ribbons on their weapons out of respect for the king.

Koh Samui - Tourist Destination

Koh Samui, the beautiful island of coconut trees, is the third largest of Thailand's islands. It is located 700 km south of Bangkok in the Gulf of Thailand, in the Suratthani province. This island has become well known for its beaches, including Chaweng & Lamai, and for its other tourist attractions. There are many other islands nearby, but the most popular, other than Samui, are Koh Tao (one of the best diving locations in Asia) and Koh Phangan (well known for its Full Moon parties). In recent years, Thailand has started promoting Koh Samui as a tourist destination of choice. This, along with the tragic tsunami which struck the west coast a couple of years ago, has caused Koh Samui to become much more popular, and as a result has been westernised and developed much more than some other tourist destinations. There are many tourist attractions on Samui, and many places to stay, and also many websites that you can visit giving advice on how to get there, where to go and what to do while on Samui. This article does not intend to address any of these well covered topics, but seeks to share some of what it is like to holiday on Samui, and a little of what you should expect. I first visited Koh Samui in 2000, and from 2000 to 2002 I visited this beautiful island a number of times. In recent years, I have not had the opportunity to return, and as I am not a fan of heavily touristed areas, or of places where the Thai people have begun to loose some culture as they soak up the western culture, I have had little desire to try. I have also heard stories of just how 'touristy' Koh Samui has become in recent years, which has not helped improve my image of what this island has become. Recently, my wife and I had the opportunity to visit Koh Samui for a few days (currently we live in Bangkok), which excited me that I should once again be able to return to the island, but also made me nervous that we might have an awful time because of what might have happened to the island since I last visited. We stayed on Samui for the last week of August, which is at the end of the high season, but in actual fact, many tourists leave during August, making this last week of the month quite quiet. What struck me as amazing, was how much the island had been developed in the past few years. Towns had grown by at least 50%, which is not that surprising, I guess, considering that in the early 70s, the only business was coconuts and fishing, with large hotels and tourism only having been introduced relatively recently. The next shock was the prices. We expect that prices might be higher in tourist areas, but some prices while on this recent trip to Koh Samui were quite unbelievable. Being used to Bangkok prices, and earning Thai money probably did not help us legitimise some of the costs. When we first arrived on the island, after a 100 baht boat ride, which took 1.5 hours, we discovered that the 20 minute taxi trip to where we were staying was going to cost 200 baht per person. This was a flat price (differing per location), so could not be bargained down by much. It was especially crazy to be bargaining a 'per person' price; we really felt for families of 5 who would need to pay an extraordinary price to get anywhere. We hardly ever take taxis in Bangkok, as they are too expensive for us to use frequently, but as a comparison, a 2 hour trip from the airport to any distant destination in Bangkok is not likely to ever cost more than 200 baht, regardless of how many passengers there are. Most trips of 20 minutes cost approximately 40-50 baht. We heard, while on the island, that most Taxi drivers are looking out for just one or two, 4 person fares per week so that they do not have to work the rest of the week. It certainly says something, where the lowest possible 20-40 minute fare anyone could achieve is enough to keep a man's family for a week without the need for him to work further. This fare was a little too expensive for us, so we hitched a 10 minute ride to the main road, and jumped on a Sawng Taw (a ute taxi where you sit on the back, in two rows (Sawng Taw means 'two rows'). Every Sawng Taw we ever use is always fixed price - this is normal - and every trip I have made to Samui in the past has been the same. We even saw the fixed prices listed on the back of the ute cab (in Thai) depending on which town you get on and off at. When we arrived, we paid the correct fare, but then the Sawng Taw driver told us that Westerners must bargain a price first and it must be at least twice what a Thai person would pay, so we were required to pay an additional fee.... But still, instead of our 20 minute trip costing 400 baht, we arrived at our destination for just 100 baht for the two of us. The cost of transportation aside, all other costs seemed quite reasonable. The price of hiring a motorbike has not increased at all in the last 5 years, and food has not increased much at all. Surprisingly enough, the cost of clothes and touristy items have not increased by much either (although you must sometimes bargain down to that reasonable price). Some authors speak of food being more expensive, but we found that the price of food was similar to other tourist areas and was also the same as what locals would pay in some areas of Bangkok.

Of course, we did not even pay these normal prices (approx 40 baht per dish) for our meals, as we prefer to eat Thai, and because so many restaraunts located in tourist areas cater mainly for Western tastes, we usually hunt out the places where the Thais eat, which also usually happen to be cheaper for more delicious meals. As we were staying in Lamai, we often ate at 'Coconut', by the beach, near McDonald's, and at a place with no name which was half way down the same lane. Great Food! (in BKK) The exception to reasonable priced food came when buying food on the beach. I understand that it is a hot and long day for the Thais to wander up and down the beach, and I would expect to pay 2-3 times a normal price for food on the beach. But, we are used to paying 20 baht for three pieces of corn, but on the beach they were charging 40 baht for one. That is the same price as a meal, for a piece of really cheap vegetable. The funny thing with the people on the beach selling various things, is that they do not seem to make many sales at all, people prefering to buy their goods at a seriously cheaper price from their local town. One evening, we asked one lady who said she had not made any sales all day. If only they would charge a modest-reasonable profit, they would make so many more sales, and probably a lot more in total. But then we realised that to do so, they would need to buy more product and do more work. The Thais on the beach would much more prefer to make less sales with larger profit, requiring less effort, than to work more, earning less per item, but much more overall. Much like those taxi drivers I guess; 90% of the taxis we saw on the island were always driving around empty looking for potential customers - who can afford those prices??? The last casualty of Samui, because of the tourism, has to be culture and Thai character. We meet so many Thai people who are so lovely, helpful and friendly. But in tourist areas, many Thais are so different from other Thais as they have soaked up some of the more negative traits of Western culture and Western character. And when westerners get suddenly angry at being mistreated in some way, just as they would with some western person with no morals, the Thai has no problem being angry back and standing on their own self-defined rights, just as any good westerner might. This is such a shame, as the Thai culture, although there are negatives as with any other race, has a real beauty about it which is being lost fast in tourist areas. Speaking of westerner's rights to be able to define their own 'rights' (which I am sure is an offensive thing to talk about with many westerners), the number of tourists who, against all advice, are truly disrespecting Thai culture in the most obvious of ways, and who refuse to change as they "have the right" to be doing what ever they are doing, is truly stunning. The most obvious and easy to speak of is the serious amount of under-dressing on the beach. Maybe it is prejudice to have nude beaches in the west now; maybe people have the right to walk around nude everywhere now; I don't know. But seeing women walk down the beach completely naked without even a towel or anything, is truly embarrassing. Not only does it completely disrespect the Thai culture, and offend most every Thai person, but regular complete disrespect like this brings judgement and detest upon all of us. Samui is well known for it's 'Girlfriend Bars', which are fun places to go and have a drink, whether you are looking for a girlfriend or not. We have our own views on the rights and wrongs of this line of work, and of the people that make use of these lady's services, especially based on what we know of how these ladies think, and what they are actually offering, compared to what the western guys usually think. This 'night-life' is often a put-off for western families coming to Samui on holiday. But it should not be! So many people see this night-life as immoral and seedy and something to keep children away from. Yet the number of families with children, that we saw while on Samui, was quite surprising. I would say that an evening out with the children is safer than being out in some other countries, and is safer for the children than watching some T.V. programmes. You might have fears of your children seeing woman trying to sell sex, but although, as with anywhere, there are some woman trying to earn money by selling sex, most on Samui are not. Most everyone of the girls that work at these bars is actually better dressed than the many western woman still wandering around town in the evening in their beach wear, and most the girls at the bars love children, and would much rather entertain your children than have a drink with some western guy. You, of course, will have your own opinion regarding this, but it really changed our opinion to see so many young, strong looking, families out for evening walks among these bars. Bill Resort I must say, that our stay on Samui was not what I expected it would be. It was so much better. Our accommodation was lovely, the weather and food was lovely, we enjoyed a couple of trips out, and a few nights visiting our 'local' Samui bar where we made some great friends. Koh Samui, remains for me, a place to visit; a beautiful and most relaxing, paradise island. Just remember to bring plenty of cash for transport.... I hope that this article has been of some help to you, and that you will consider Koh Samui for your next holiday, and will enjoy your trip.