Tag: Thailand

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Thailand Coup: 11:25 p.m. Bangkok Time

BBC:

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has declared a state of emergency in Bangkok amid reports of a coup attempt.

Soldiers have entered Government House and tanks have moved into position around the building.

Mr Thaksin, who is at the UN in New York, announced he had removed the chief of the army and had ordered troops not to “move illegally”.

An army-owned TV station is showing images of the royal family and songs linked in the past with military coups.

Correspondents say that there have been low-level rumours of a possible coup for weeks.

Thai media say that two army factions appear to be heading for a clash, with one side backing the prime minister and the other side backing a rebel army chief.

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.

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.

AP:

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared a state of emergency Tuesday night from New York as rumors of a military coup swept the capital. An army-owned television station suspended regular programming and played patriotic songs.

Shinawatra went on a government-owned TV station to declare the state of emergency.

“The prime minister with the approval of the Cabinet declares serious emergency law in Bangkok from now on,” Thaksin said on Channel 9 from New York, where he was attending the U.N. General Assembly.

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.

Reuters:

Tanks surrounded Thailand’s Government House on Tuesday and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared a state of emergency in Bangkok amid signs of the first attempted coup in the southeast Asian nation in 15 years.

“I declare Bangkok under a severe state of emergency,” Thaksin said in a voice broadcast on Thai television.

Thaksin, in New York at a United Nations summit, ordered troops not to “move illegally”, and told armed forces chiefs to report to acting Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya.

At least 20 soldiers entered the Government House building, according to reporters inside.

Army television broadcast images of the royal family and songs associated in the past with military coups.

Government officials said Thaksin, in the middle of a political crisis fomented by a street campaign against him, planned to return from New York early on Thursday, a day earlier than originally scheduled.

Even though Thailand’s last military coup was 15 years ago, speculation about military intervention has been rife, with motorists calling traffic radio stations last week after tanks were spotted rolling down streets of the capital.

That proved to be a false alarm, with the army saying it was merely soldiers returning from exercises.

A general election scheduled for October was postponed last week, probably until November.

(All emphasis mine.)

Developing…

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Thailand: Coup Attempt Under Way

An update to my last post: CNN is reporting that tanks are rolling through the streets of Bangkok. Prime Minister Thaksin has declared a state of emergency. A coup attempt appears to be under way. Stay tuned…

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Thailand Coup Rumors

The breaking news from The Nation:

Coup rumours were widely spread Tuesday night after the Third and Fifth Army areas moved their four battalions out.

But officers from the two army areas said the forces were moved to be stationed in the three southern border provinces as part of personnel rotation there.

The 31st Infantry Regimen also moved out its personnel as part of the rotation with soldiers in the deep South, the officers said.

The 23rd and 24th Cavalry Battalions and the Second Cavalry Division also moved out their personnel to rotate with soldiers at the Pha Muang Task Force in Phetchabun.

The officers said the massive movements of the soldiers apparently led to the coup rumours.

And the bigger-picture story from Reuters:

Even though Thailand’s last military coup was 15 years ago, when Bangkok motorists spotted tanks rolling down the street last week, many thought the army was up to its old tricks once again.

“I received more than 10 calls from people saying they had seen several tanks on the street and asking in a shaky voice if there was a coup,” said Jakrapan Kunanyatirakul of FM 91 traffic radio.

“We called the army for an explanation and the answer was it was troops returning from up-country exercises.”

With Thailand mired in a political crisis now in its ninth month and tensions escalating between the army, police, palace and government, the callers could not be accused of being paranoid.

Military chiefs vow the army will stay out of the mess left by April’s annulled election, but with 23 coups or attempted coups during 74 years of on-off democracy, many view their protestations with skepticism.

“Although the chances of success now are much less, it’s almost impossible to dismiss fears of a coup here since we still have many politically active soldiers,” said security analyst Panitan Wattanayakorn at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.

“A Tug of War for Thailand’s Soul”

Colum Murphy has a comprehensive essay about Thailand’s political situation in this month’s Far Eastern Economic Review:

Inside the entrance to the Thai Rak Thai’s party headquarters in Bangkok hangs a giant photograph of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra bowing to King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Dressed in the white uniform sometimes worn by government officials, the prime minister is prostrate before the much-revered king in a gesture of devoted servitude. Yet few in Thailand believe that relations between the two men are as amiable as the photograph suggests.

“He [Mr. Thaksin] has pitched a fight with the Bangkok elite, including the palace—and that means the king himself,” says a Western diplomat. Earlier in the year, Mr. Thaksin reportedly said that he would step down if the king “whispered in his ear” to do so. “Well the king has not just whispered it, but has said it indirectly in public,” adds the diplomat.

With fresh elections planned for October 15, it could be only a matter of weeks before a major showdown occurs. But more is at stake than Mr. Thaksin’s political career. There would be ramifications for the monarchy as well, and its relationship with the country’s still-weak democratic institutions. A drawn-out dispute between Mr. Thaksin and the king, also known as Rama IX, threatens to derail efforts to address the challenges to Thai society such as the disparity between the rich and poor, the urban and rural, as well as systemic corruption.

(Emphasis mine.)

Thai Kung Fu Flick Coming to Western Theaters

The 2005 martial arts action flick Tom Yum Goong appears to be headed for Western theaters; its new title is The Protector. You can watch the trailer here. The film features Thai celluloid star Tony Jaa. Why it is, precisely, that the flick is named after one of my all-time favorite Thai dishes remains a mystery.

From the promo copy:

His world shaped by ancient traditions, a young Thai fighter (Jaa) is called upon to defend his people and their honor after outsiders invade their home and destroy all that is sacred.Fueled by desire to protect a way of life and avenge the wrong done to his family, he will bring the fight to their city.

The real question: Tony Jaa vs. Rambo. Who wins?

Bangkok’s Quirkiest City Guide

Siam Square

I’ve got a new post over at Gridskipper; it’s about Bangkok’s quirkiest online city guide.

Wat Arun

Here’s a photo I snapped of Wat Arun the other night. It was raining, and the mist made for an eerie effect.

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“The Quiet Farang”

John Burdett, author of two excellent novels about Bangkok, had an informative op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times. He says that there’s a reason delinquent foreigners come to Thailand — and that the country has some endemic problems of its own:

The story of the cute white girl in the red tartan bonnet who had been dead 10 years burst into the Thai news media just as another equally harrowing local story was breaking: allegations, vigorously denied, of the systematic serial rape of five 8-year-old girls by two highly respected Thai teachers with decades of experience as educators.

In Thailand, only monks are revered more than teachers. But this local news, which surely touches the lives of Thais more deeply than John Mark Karr’s confession to the murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey a decade ago, was knocked off the front page even as doubts began piling up about Mr. Karr’s reliability.

Since her death, JonBenet has become a multimillion-dollar American industry, whereas the allegations at Prachanukul School in Bangkok’s Sai Mai district are just another Bangkok crime story. Or are they?

As of now, it seems possible that Mr. Karr did not commit the murder, but is an attention-seeking farang kee-nok — “Western drifter.” Like other members of that group, he tried to make ends meet by taking on teaching jobs, made regular visa runs to Malaysia, lived in a budget hotel, drifted around Southeast Asia with no apparent direction.

Yet it is exactly his familiarity as a type that has concentrated the attention of those Thais most familiar with it. Nit Dandin, a veteran teacher of the Thai language to Westerners, put it to me this way: “Why do farang come to Thailand after they kill or rape somebody in their own country?”

Why indeed?

Read the whole thing.

(Via.)

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Karr’s Creepy Usenet Postings

Thanks to A for passing along this site, which details some of Karr’s sicko Usenet postings as well as a mirrored copy of his (similarly creepy) teaching resume.

This case gets stranger by the day. Now there’s a potential link to a yearbook inscription Karr made 20 years back.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the answer is yes: John Mark Karr now has a Wikipedia page.

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John Karr and Tourism in Thailand

In my most recent Gridskipper post, I take a look at Karr’s bust and the Thai tourism industry.