Globe And Mail : 'The people are smiling and happy'

'The people are smiling and happy'

Coup's success, GEOFFREY YORK reports, is another sign of the fragility of Asian democracies

by GEOFFREY YORK | September 21, 2006

BANGKOK -- Thailand's coup plotters were feted as conquering heroes yesterday as Bangkok happily surrendered its freedoms to the camouflage-uniformed troops of the military junta that toppled their controversial leader.

The soldiers, idling in their tanks and jeeps on the streets of Bangkok, were mobbed by well-wishers who showered them with bouquets of carnations and daisies, gifts of fruit and bottles of water.

Parents brought their toddlers to admire the troops and pose for triumphant photos with the armoured vehicles. Crowds cheered for every jeep that drove out of military headquarters. The military vehicles were soon filled with flowers.

For months, the same crowds had been bitterly protesting against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, accusing him of undemocratic actions. Now, they welcomed his demise at the hands of military leaders, oblivious to the irony that their enemy had been overthrown by the most undemocratic means possible.

The swift success of the coup, and the surprisingly warm response from the Thai people, was another sign of the fragility of Asia's democratic facade. After months of street protests and political clashes, most Thais eagerly accepted the loss of their freedoms. And this is a country that, until the coup Tuesday night, ranked as one of the freest in the region.

"Look, everyone is happy," said Pattraporn, a 41-year-old government administrator, who was snapping photos of the soldiers after driving across the city to visit them.

"On CNN, everything looked so bad, so I wanted to take photos to show my friends that the people are smiling and happy. We have to accept what the military commands. The military is controlling everything, and nobody is hurt, nobody died. People don't feel any fear."

Because of the widespread public support for the coup, the military leaders were able to control Bangkok with relatively few soldiers. All across the city, life was operating as normal yesterday, with troops hardly visible anywhere. Only at a few key intersections and government buildings were soldiers present.

At the royal plaza in the heart of the city, Wila Udom had been planning to organize an anti-government protest today. Instead, he cheerfully accepted the military's decision to ban all public gatherings. He helped collect crates of water and fruit in a pickup truck to deliver to the soldiers.

"This is very good," he said. "You can see how the people are giving food and everything to the military."

Many of Bangkok's intellectuals and politicians seemed equally pleased by the coup. At a panel discussion last night at the city's Foreign Correspondents Club, three of the four panelists sought to justify the coup. A senator, Kraisak Chonhavan, said he was "almost overjoyed" by the military intervention. He described the junta as a "reform committee." And he praised the coup leaders for agreeing to lift their ban on CNN and BBC broadcasts, which had been blocked for several hours after the start of the coup.

For the intellectuals and other opponents of the government, the coup was justified because it got rid of a prime minister who had abused his power, committed human-rights violations and enriched himself at the public expense. "I've had to attend so many funerals and so many human-rights cases," Mr. Kraisak said. "I've never felt so much hatred for a government as I felt for this government."

But while Mr. Thaksin was unpopular in Bangkok, he still had strong support in northern Thailand and in many rural regions. He won landslide election victories in 2001 and 2005, and another in 2006 that was overturned by the courts. Most analysts agreed that he would win a fair election if it were held today.

The opposition, however, had refused to accept this reality. Opposition parties boycotted the 2006 election, refused to accept the result, and then boycotted parliament, leaving the political system paralyzed and unworkable. That paralysis was one of the main reasons for the coup.

Thitinan Pongsudhiarak, a political scientist in Bangkok, said the Thaksin government had allowed only a "very crooked, twisted form of democracy." But the military junta has thrown the country back into a cycle that it often suffered in the past, when coups were common, he said. "The constitution has been abolished. We have been set back to square one."

He warned that bitter infighting could flare up again. "There is a potential counter-coup in the making. Thaksin's support runs deep. He has made himself very popular. This is not a man who likes to lose. He will plot a comeback."