Thailand’s army chief vowed on Wednesday to wipe the political slate clean and return ”power to the people” as soon as possible after a bloodless coup against billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Commander-in-chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who had repeatedly dismissed a coup as a way out of a prolonged political stalemate, took power late on Tuesday as head of an interim ”Political Reform Council” run by the military.
”I would like to assure that the council has no intention of running the country by itself and will return power, under the constitutional monarchy, to the people as soon as possible,” he said in a national television address on Wednesday morning.
The Thai baht, one of Asia’s strongest currencies this year, suffered its biggest fall in three years within hours of tanks surrounding Government House. Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s put Thailand’s credit rating on review for possible downgrades.
The stock market was closed on the orders of the coup leaders, who declared a national holiday on Wednesday. Market officials confirmed it would reopen on Thursday.
Commercial banks and some businesses were shuttered in Bangkok, and foreign car manufacturers such as Japan’s Nissan Motor, one of hundreds of investors in Thailand’s export-driven economy, said they had halted operations for a day.
Announcements carried on all television channels said political gatherings of more than five people were banned, but otherwise Bangkok remained calm and quiet, with its notorious traffic jams alleviated by the holiday announcement.
‘Rampant corruption’
On Tuesday evening as soldiers took up positions on street corners throughout the capital, a coup spokesperson said Thaksin had been ousted to resolve a near year-long political deadlock and to stop ”rampant corruption”.
Thaksin, who was in New York at the United Nations General Assembly, apparently tried to head off the putsch by phoning a Thai television station to announce a state of emergency but was cut off after 10 minutes.
He then cancelled a speech to the United Nations scheduled for Wednesday morning Thai time and was due to leave New York at any moment but his aides refused to say where he was going.
One of Thaksin’s three children is studying in London, where he also owns a house.
The coup spokesperson, retired Lieutenant-General Prapart Sakuntanak, said the army and police were in firm control after the coup, Thailand’s first in 15 years but its 18th since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.
Television showed the armed forces chiefs heading in a motorcade to the palace late on Tuesday to report to revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, images likely to dampen any agitation in the countryside, where support for Thaksin is strong.
However, fears of a counter-coup by Thaksin loyalists within the military and police died down after a senior general said his main deputy, Chidchai Vanasatidya, had been ”invited to stay” at army headquarters since Tuesday night.
Documentaries of the king in the countryside promoting development projects were also broadcast on television, apparently aimed at reinforcing the military’s insistence it was acting on behalf of the country and the crown.
Foreign news channels, including CNN and the BBC, were taken off the air immediately after the coup and more than half a day later were still being blocked.
Divided nation
The coup was condemned by the United States, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand as undemocratic.
However its leaders said it had been necessary to resolve the political stalemate that stemmed from a street campaign against telecommunications billionaire Thaksin, accusing him of subverting democracy for the good of his family and friends in big business.
Thaksin argued he was democracy’s defender against opponents using unconstitutional means.
”Never in Thai history have the people been so divided,” coup spokesperson Prapart said. ”The majority of people had become suspicious of this administration, which is running the country through rampant corruption.”
After mass street protests against him in Bangkok, Thaksin, winner of two election landslides, called a snap poll in April, hoping his rural following would counter his metropolitan foes.
Opposition parties argued he had skewed neutral bodies such as the election commission in his favour, however, and boycotted the poll, rendering the result invalid.
Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party had been expected to win a re-run tentatively scheduled for late November, increasing pressure on his opponents in the military and the old establishment to remove him by force. – Reuters