NYT : Thai Military Declares Martial Law

Thai Military Declares Martial Law

By SETH MYDANS and THOMAS FULLER | September 20, 2006

BANGKOK, Wednesday, Sept. 20 — Leaders of Thailand’s armed forces seized control of Bangkok on Tuesday night, suspended the constitution and declared martial law.

Rumors of a coup swept Bangkok today as the Thai military blocked the area around Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's office with tanks.

They ousted the Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, while he was in New York for a meeting of the United Nations. Mr. Thaksin had appeared on Thai television to declare a state of emergency but was cut off in mid-speech.

The coup, led by the army’s chief, Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, also “terminated” both houses of parliament, the cabinet and the constitutional court. General Sondhi was named acting prime minister.

Overnight, General Sondhi was shown on television in an audience with King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a clear indication that the revered constitutional monarch endorsed the move.

Late Tuesday night in Bangkok, tanks and armored personnel carriers rolled through heavy rain to block the entrance to the prime minister’s office, while other tanks took up positions at government offices and major intersections. Witnesses reported that roadblocks had been set up around Bangkok.

On a television station controlled by the military, a general in civilian clothes said that a “council of administrative reform,” including the military and the police, had seized power in the name of the king.

Speaking for General Sondhi, who has publicly feuded with Mr. Thaksin, the spokesman said the military did not intend to rule the country and would “hand power back to the people.” He gave no timetable, however.

The spokesman accused Mr. Thaksin of corruption and constant interference with the legislature and the courts. He apologized to the public for any inconvenience caused by the coup.

The announcement came shortly after Mr. Thaksin, in a television broadcast from New York, declared a state of emergency and effectively fired General Sondhi.

But that broadcast was cut off before it was completed, and General Sondhi announced soon afterward that he had revoked the state of emergency. Shortly after that, he announced his own declaration of martial law.

Mr. Thaksin had been scheduled to address the United Nations in New York on Wednesday, but his speech was initially moved up to Tuesday evening because of the coup and later canceled.

Thailand has been embroiled in a political crisis for months. Huge street demonstrations in April forced Mr. Thaksin to step aside and call a snap election, which his party won easily when the opposition boycotted the vote. A court later annulled the result.

An election commission loyal to Mr. Thaksin set a new vote for Oct. 15, but its members were removed and jailed by a court for malfeasance. A new commission has said that the election would be delayed, a development seen as a setback for Mr. Thaksin.

Mr. Thaksin is both one of the most popular and unpopular prime ministers in recent Thai history. The different points of view point to a sharp social divide that he has played on during the crisis.

Mr. Thaksin’s party, Thai Rak Thai, has won three elections by landslides — in 2001, 2005 and again in April — because of broad support among rural voters, who have been the main beneficiaries of his populist policies. He was widely expected to win any new election.

But opposition to him has swelled among the elite, mostly in Bangkok. Public indignation was heightened by his family’s tax-free sale of its $1.9 billion stake in a giant telecommunications company to a Singapore company.

Mr. Thaksin’s government has also been accused of rampant corruption, a charge repeated by the general announcing the takeover on Tuesday.

Tuesday’s televised coup announcement came after reports of large-scale military movements around the capital. The military has been sharply divided between officers loyal to the prime minister — some of them his relatives — and others who oppose him.

There has been tension over an impending military shuffle that would determine which officers were moved into commanding positions.

The website of The Nation, a major daily newspaper here, reported that Mr. Thaksin had ordered General Sondhi to be assigned to the prime minister’s office, where he was to report to Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Chidchai Wannasathit, who is a major general of the national police. That assignment would have effectively stripped General Sondhi of command.

On Monday, speaking to the Council of Foreign Relations in New York, Mr. Thaksin said that he might step down as prime minister after the elections, but that he would remain the head of his party, known as Thai Rak Thai, according to The Associated Press.

During his talk, he joked about the difficulties he was facing, saying that young democracies struggle like a child learning to walk. “I, for one, haven’t seen a child learning to walk without bumping his bottom constantly,” he said. “As adults, we must learn to live with the pain and the pangs of democracy, lest we throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

Thailand has suffered a number of military coups in the past, but Tuesday’s apparent coup was the first in fifteen years. Loudspeaker announcements were heard ordering civilians off the streets, but no formal curfew was announced.

Though Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and the king has only limited formal political power, he is highly influential and is revered by the Thai public after more than 5o years on the throne. Armored vehicles seen moving in the capital bore ribbons of bright yellow, a color associated with the monarchy, news agencies reported.

John O’Neil contributed reporting for this article from New York.