On Wednesday morning I woke at 6am for a visa run to the Cambodian border. My wife and daughter slept blissfully, while I trundled into the living room. Sitting on the sofa, I turned on the TV. BBC News. 6am. Lead story. COUP IN THAILAND. Same for Fox News and CNN. Thai TV was showing movies of the King, instead of soap operas. 

Thaksin the prime minister for the past 6 years was out.

My parents and teachers had instructed me to honor democracy. 

For the people blah blah blah.

I had protested against the military for their involvement in Vietnam, Iraq, and Gay Pride. I even demonstrated for the gay Irish to march in the St. patirkc’s day parade without any inkling as to why they would want to associate with tens of thousands of drunk Micks.

I believe in freedom, but this time I clapped my hands and said, “Yes.” I went to meet the mini-van to the frontier. It was raining. There were no troops in the streets of Pattaya.

In 1992 I had been in Bangkok during the pro-democracy protests before the government house.The Avenue of Democracy was packed with supporters seeking the ouster of Gerneral Suchinda. The troops were of the city. The faces opposite their rifles were family. No one was going to shoot. The leader of the protests Chumalong asked for calm. Both the army and the people were in accord, then Suchinda ordered troops from the country to take the place of the city garrison. These raw recruits were told that the nation was threatened by communists. The front lines in Bangkok were drawn. 

I was with a friend in front of the Royale Hotel. He was reveling in the spirit of the crowd. The faces of the new troops were grim and I said, “This is going to get ugly.”

“They’ll only shoot a few rounds over everyone’s heads to scare them.” Our heads stood out at the back of the crowd.

My mother had always warned if you see trouble coming then walk the other way. This seemed good advice. I dragged my friend into the Hotel and booked a room. We barely entered the room before shots and then screams sounded. I had heard the same in Kathmandu the year before. People were dying. The mob surged to escape death. Some too late. Protesters fled into the hotel. The police came looking for them.

They knocked on the door. I answered it naked with a bottle of whiskey in my hand. Seven students were hiding in the bathroom. The cops had a slug of whiskey and continued their search.

In the morning I took a train to Chiang Mai. By the time I got there, the BBC radio was reporting the body count. No one ever had a clear idea of how many.

This coup had none of that violence 

Not in Pattaya and not at the border and not in Bangkok.

I speak Thai. Not great but I can tell off-color jokes at whiskey parties. I asked the immigration officials what was happening. They said the military had ordered the border shut. The only presence of the army was three rain-drenched conscripts. Their word was law.

Why?

Because Thaksin had overstepped the bounds of authority.

With his sale of Shin Corp to Singapore in which he paid no taxes on $2 billion. For his ministers’ highhanded treatment of the law. For thinking be could be king, but last week this search for ultimate power reached an impasse.

Army Commander Sonthi in the last weeks had been seeking a solution through dialogue to the insurgency in the South. Thaksin opposed this solution. Bombs blasted Had Yai this week. The center of the South. 4 people dead adding to the over 3000 killed in the four years of open rebellion against the Thaksin regime.

In Thailand the military act as the behest of the King, who is revered by the people. Sonthi, who is a Muslim, had promised that he would never allow Thaksin to interfere with the military. Lat week the Prime Minister tried to substitute his appointee as admiral. This would have given him complete dictatorial powers. The army reacted to protect the nation from one-man rule.

Have a long holiday Khun Thaksin.

Pineapple head was already out of the country at the UN.

He was scheduled to address the General Security Council which would have been the first time a caretaker PM had done so. The coup cancelled this appearance. He took a Thai Airways plane from JFK to Heathrow. Especially scheduled. His wife and children left Bangkok with 60 bags of luggage. None of them checked.

These were the last favors due a strong man.

Ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will “take a deserved rest” and remain in London for at least the next few days, his chief policy advisor, Pansak Vinyaratn said Thursday.

Thaksin is now in the UK with his daughter. He gave her and his son a billion dollars each to avoid paying taxes on the Sale of his SHIN CORP shares to a Singapore company.  At the time he said he did so to give his children a present.

What do you think the chances are that his kids will give him back a billion dollars? I like my father, but a billion dollars is a billion dollars. I saw the ex-Pm leave his daughter’s house in Lond this afternoon. He looked like a crackhead needing to visit someone else’s ATM.

Indian giver?

But what is the future for Thailand? The military government promises to relinquish control in two weeks. They swear to hold elections in a year.People will not wait that long for normalcy.

This is not Thailand 1973 or 1992. 

The army has banned gatherings over 5 people. 

I was at a bar with twenty people. Everyone spoke freely, but no one wants trouble and no one wants to repeat life under Thaksin.

The USA came out and condemned the coup. Not one Thai cares what the USA thinks. Not after the election of 2000. This is the new world. We don’t have to be ruled by democracy. Anarchy will do.

It has for the last six months. another year won’t hurt, unless someone tries to tell the people what to do. Mostly they want to eat, drink, and take care of their kids and family. Nothing else.

Keep it simple stupid.