Thai army chief leads coup while prime minister away

[peggygee]

Region under discussion

[Paladin]

Folks this is yet another muslim attempt to overthrow a government:

"The coup against the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is being led by Thai army chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin and Thailand's opposition Party of Democratic Reform. "

This general is a muslim. all but one conflict in the world currently is between muslins their neighboors either internally or externally.

If he stays in power, you can all say goodbye to your planned trips over there!?!

[GroobySteven]

Folks this is yet another muslim attempt to overthrow a government:

"The coup against the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is being led by Thai army chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin and Thailand's opposition Party of Democratic Reform. "

This general is a muslim. all but one conflict in the world currently is between muslins their neighboors either internally or externally.

If he stays in power, you can all say goodbye to your planned trips over there!?!

Uninformed, uneducated, bigotted IDIOT.

[BlackAdder]

So im not sure if this is good or bad???

[AllanahStarrNYC]

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- The United States has urged Americans to reconsider any travel to Thailand while Britain told its citizens living there to stay in their homes, after the Thai military toppled the country's prime minister in a coup.

Japan and Australia advised citizens to be extremely careful in the Thai capital, where tanks surrounded government offices, and to avoid political rallies or concentrations of military personnel.

"In light of the very uncertain political situation and apparent military-led takeover of the government, we strongly advise Australians to reconsider their need to travel to Thailand until the situation is clarified," the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

It asked those already in the capital to stay at home, and monitor the media.

The U.S. Embassy, in an e-mail to its citizens living in Thailand, said that while there had been no reports of violence in the overnight coup, Americans should "monitor the situation closely, avoid any large gatherings and exercise discretion when moving about the city."

"At this point, we are not advising Americans to leave Thailand; however, Americans planning to travel to Thailand may wish to carefully consider their options before traveling until the situation becomes clearer."

Britain's Foreign Office, in a notice on its Web site, warned that movement in the capital may be curtailed due to the imposition of martial law that came as Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was in New York attending the U.N General Assembly.

Japan and Singapore issued similar notices through their Foreign Ministries that urged nationals to remain in "safe" locations in the capital and avoid places of potential disturbances, such as the palace and government buildings.

South Korea advised its citizens against visiting Thailand, saying the situation remains "volatile."

New Zealand also warned its citizens in Thailand to be careful when moving around the city.

"Don't go sightseeing around government buildings. If a curfew is imposed -- and there is talk of a curfew -- then it should be respected," Ambassador Brook Barrington told Radio New Zealand in Wellington.

The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was assessing whether to change its advisory for Thailand.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[BrendaQG]

The comments on Islam being intolerant of transsexuals beg for me to reply. Instead of writing a especially long rebuttal I will just give you all some links.

First the fact that transsexuality is permitted in Iran, they do not allow one to flat out say they will "never" have surgery. They believe that SRS is required of a Muslim who is found to have GID by a competent Muslim doctor. The medically prescribed treatment for what ails us. Wikipedia:Transsexuality in Iran The surgeons who perform SRS in Iran study in Thailand before going back to Iran. Reputedly Tehran has about as many transsexuals as any city in the world.

The second fact that this acceptance is rooted in the Muslim traditions by way of stories of how Muhammad interacted (called "ahadith") with people we would understand as being transsexual if they were around now. Wikipedia:Mukhannathun "'A mukhannath is the one ("male") who carries in his movements, in his appearance and in his language the characteristics of a woman...." Sounds like how a 12th century person would describe a transsexual to me. That link goes on to tell one of those stories of how Muhammad protected such a person from an angry mob.

Hence transsexuals can be found in Cairo, Istanbul, even Mecca they just won't be posting pics anytime soon.

I will not kid you there is a catch. Muslim transsexuals have to live under the same restrictions as Muslim women. We are however allowed a bit more freedom of movement than a woman.


So if Sharia is imposed in Thailand here is what you can expect to see.

Practically Zero sex tourism from the west. However if the ruler is a Shiite they do have a form of legal sex work in Shia Islam. But only Muslim men would be able to partake of that.

No more open homosexuality. No more man like katoey's. Islam will not let one ride the fence on this matter. Must be TS or be quiet.

No more transsexuals performing in cabarets, or as strippers or anything erotic. Because while being Ts is not a sin, not forbidden the prophet on several occasions cursed them for their erotic singing and dancing (nothing new under the sun eh?. See here Cursed by the Prophet?:).

They may not require the non Muslim inhabitants to live by the Sharia law. The Buddhist are (at least by Muslims in India) considered people of the book which would afford them some protection.

What you would not see:
Transsexuals being killed or harmed in any way as a matter of state policy.
SRS would still be performed though the chaos of the moment would make travel there for that very risky.

Plus there is the fact the place will probably be in a civl war now with the mostly Muslim south and the mostly Buddhist north facing off. This has been brewing for a while.

When this is over perhaps there will be less overall "sex tourism" in that area. I have heard some horror stories of women being brought here to Chicago to be sex slaves and such. Perhaps now that will stop for good.

One final thought. Please do not jump to conclusions about Islam based soley on the fundamentalist. I mean Gen Musharraf of Pakistan is a Muslim leading the only Muslim country that has the H-bomb. Yet Pakistan has been a US ally for 40-50 years. They have plenty of radicals. In fact it is where Bin-laden probably is. Yet have one of those H-bombs been give to Al-quaeda? No. Have we been attacked with such a weapon? No. So just calm the heck down. Ok.

Happy 27th of Sha-ban 1427 AH. Ramadan is only three days away! Do your shopping now

[DJ_Asia]

Folks this is yet another muslim attempt to overthrow a government:

"The coup against the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is being led by Thai army chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin and Thailand's opposition Party of Democratic Reform. "

This general is a muslim. all but one conflict in the world currently is between muslins their neighboors either internally or externally.

If he stays in power, you can all say goodbye to your planned trips over there!?!

Man this has zero to do w/ Muslims.

The main beef is this guy has been running the country like his own private business and sold the top Thai communication company to a Singapore based company for 1.6 billion usd and did it in his kids names,thus avoiding paying ANY taxes,and putting ahuge Thai company in foreign hands.

Oddly if all coups were as non lethal as this one has been so far it might happen more often.
Martial law has been imposed here,and the streets are pretty empty,but its still business as usual.just on a smaller scale.
Tomorrow im gonna hire a car an go take photos of this coup up close...if you dont hear from me..I got blown up by a pissed off tank commander.

DJ Asia

[Quinn]

Man this has zero to do w/ Muslims.

No doubt. The Thai army is currently working to contain a growing Muslim insurgency/terrorist campaign in the south of the country. It It hardly seems logical that the army, whose senior officers are overwhelmingly Buddhist, would follow a commander acting to further Muslim interests at the expense of the nation's dominant culture.

Tomorrow im gonna hire a car an go take photos of this coup up close...if you dont hear from me..I got blown up by a pissed off tank commander.

Be safe, and if you get pics, post them

Also, as a side note, I noticed the army changed its tune to now state that it intends to retain control for an entire year, after which it will supposedly return state control to civilian institutions. It looks like they are following, step by step, the military dictator’s play book. Musharraf and other dictators have all said the same thing at different times -- with few of them ever keeping their word . I would hate to see Thailand go the way of Myanmar.

-Quinn

[BeardedOne]

DJ, any news from the front?

The whole thing is getting so little coverage at this end that it seems like little more than a blip on the radar of world issues in the eyes of the media. Even after a brief dip, the markets rebounded and moved on to other worries.

Last I heard, the King had urged cooperation with the interim government and things were getting back to normal (Or as normal as they can be with tanks rolling around town).

[GroobySteven]

From "The Nation", one of Thailand's English language newspapers and makes for an interesting read although I agree with the email I got of this posting, there is a lot of conjecture.

Sonthi outsmarted Thaksin at the eleventh hour


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.
Thanong Khanthong
The Nation