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Military coup tumbles
Thailand's Thaksin
By Shawn W
Crispin
BANGKOK - Caretaker Thai Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a
military coup on Tuesday evening, marking what
appears to be a dramatic end to a political
stalemate that has pitched the embattled
politician against an opposition movement backed
by conservative elements close to the Thai palace.
Troops loyal to Thai army
commander General Sonthi Boonyaratklin, a palace
loyalist, led the army-led putsch and surrounded
Government House and parliament with tanks and
troops. Thaksin, who was traveling in the United
States,
>
attempted to declare “a
severe state of emergency” from New York and
ordered Sonthi removed from his command.
As of midnight Thailand time,
there was no indication that army officers loyal
to Thaksin intended to enforce the caretaker prime
minister’s orders to remove Sonthi. A source close
to Sonthi said that they were locked in late-night
negotiations with military 
officials loyal to
Thaksin, including from the Bangkok-based 4th
Cavalry Division, to avoid bloodshed.
A
military official, wearing a Western style suit
and a royal insignia pin, announced on national
television that the army had temporarily suspended
the “irresponsible” civilian government and would
soon return power to the people. The Thai military
used similar justification to overthrow the
democratically-elected government led by Chatichai
Choonhavan in 1991. All Thai television stations
were placed under military control and played
continuous footage in honor of King Bhumibol
Adulyadej.
A
subsequent military announcement broadcast on all
Thai television stations formally dismissed the
government, revoked the 1997 constitution, and
declared the provisional authority's loyalty to
the monarch. The official statement also ordered
all military personnel based in Bangkok to remain
in their appointed positions. Meanwhile, caretaker
government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee said
from New York that the coup attempt “cannot
succeed”, apparently indicating that Thaksin plans
to contest the military’s move
Sources close to Sonthi said
that two palace loyalists were being considered to
take over the provisional military authority. One
candidate was Sumet Tantivejkul, Secretary General
of the Chai Pattana Foundation, which is under
royal patronage. The other was privy councilor
Palakorn Suwannarat, who notably was removed by
Thaksin from his post in the interior ministry in
2001.
Earlier on Tuesday, there were
widespread coup rumors when Sonthi gave military
officials orders to stand by for an important
announcement. A well-placed source with senior
army connections told Asia Times Online on
condition of anonymity that Thaksin had attempted
to pre-empt the coup by ordering the arrest of
chief privy councilor Prem Tinsulonda, the king’s
chief advisor. For undisclosed reasons, that
police-led mission failed.
The army also
mobilized the heavily armed rapid deployment unit,
9th Infantry Division, in nearby Kanchanaburi
province and the Special Warfare Operational
forces in central Lopburi province in the event
military officials loyal to Thaksin in Bangkok
attempted to resist the coup order.
The
coup significantly comes against the backdrop of a
hotly contested scheduled military reshuffle, in
which Thaksin had controversially vied to elevate
army officials loyal to him from his pre-Cadet
Class 10 to the pivotal First Army Division. That
reshuffle list reportedly brought Thaksin into
conflict with senior members of the top brass and
the Privy Council, and his refusal to back down
from the proposed personnel changes appears to
have been a major factor behind the coup.
According to sources familiar with the
matter, Thaksin had attempted to elevate Major
General Prin Suwanthat to commander of the First
Army Division, which crucially is charged with
overseeing security in Bangkok. Thaksin also
reportedly pushed to promote Prin’s ally, Major
General Daopong Ratanasuwan, to take over the
First Infantry. With assistant army commander
Pornchai Kranlert in place, the reshuffle, if
accomplished, would have given Thaksin an unbroken
chain of command over crack troops responsible for
Bangkok’s security.
Thailand was scheduled
to hold new general elections in November, which
political analysts widely predicted Thaksin’s Thai
Rak Thai party would win with an outright
majority. However, deep-seated opposition to
Thaksin resuming political leadership signaled
that the new polls would not have broken the
political deadlock. For better or for worse, a
military intervention has.
Shawn W
Crispin is Asia Times Online’s Southeast Asia
Editor
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times
Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us
about sales, syndication and republishing
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