We took over to save country, says army chief
The military leader who ousted Thailand's prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said today the coup was necessary to end mounting rifts within Thai society and Thaksin's efforts to undermine democracy.
In the country's first coup in 15 years, Army chief General Sondhi Boonyaratklin led a rapid, bloodless, well-orchestrated overthrow yesterday while Thaksin was away in New York.
On television today he repeated earlier statements that the newly-created Council of Administrative Reform carried out the coup to end intensifying conflicts in Thai society, corruption in the government and insults to the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
"We have seized power. The constitution, the senate, the house of representatives, the Cabinet and the constitutional court have all been terminated," he said.
"We agreed that the caretaker prime minister has caused an unprecedented rift in society, widespread corruption, nepotism, and interfered in independent agencies, crippling them so they cannot function.
"If the caretaker government is allowed to govern it will hurt the country.
"They have also repeatedly insulted the king. Thus the council needed to seize power to control the situation, to restore normality and to create unity as soon as possible."
Flanked by the three armed forces chiefs and the head of the national police force, Sondhi added: "We would like to reaffirm that we don't have any intention to rule the country and will return power to the Thai people as soon as possible."
Residents of the Thai capital awoke today to the unfamiliar sight of soldiers on street corners and tanks blocking off the government district. But the city of more than 10 million was calm and most residents appeared unfazed by the dramatic turn of events.
Nearly 20 tanks, with yellow ribbons tied around their barrels, cordoned off the Royal Palace, Royal Plaza, army headquarters and Thaksin's office at Government House.
The new regime put the country under martial law and declared a provisional authority loyal to the Thai king, ordering government offices, banks, schools and the stock market to close for the day and seizing television and radio stations.
Sondhi had sent tanks and troops into the drizzly, night-time streets of Bangkok while Thaksin was in New York at the United Nations General Assembly.
The military announced today that the country's four regional army commanders were appointed to keep the peace and run a civil administration in their respective areas outside the capital.
The announcement said those who resisted the commanders would be severely punished. It also ordered provincial governors to report to the commanders.
There was uncertainty about Thaksin's plans after he cancelled a scheduled address to the general assembly.
In New York, a Thai business executive who said he was speaking on behalf of Thaksin, said the toppled leader was not resigned to his fate.
"The prime minister has not given up his power, he is not seeking asylum," said Tom Kruesopon, chief executive of Boon Rawd Trading International, who said he was travelling with Thaksin and a member of his Thai Rak Thai Party.
He said Thaksin planned to meet his wife and children in London, but later indicated that there was still uncertainty about the ousted leader's plans. He spoke to reporters in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York, where Thaksin was staying.
However, Thaksin's official government spokesman, Surapong Suebwonglee, also with Thaksin and contacted by phone from Bangkok, painted a gloomier picture.
"We have to accept what happened," he said. "We are not coming back soon."
Thais who trickled out on to the capital's streets overnight welcomed the surprise turn of events as a necessary climax to months of demands for Thaksin to resign amid allegations of corruption, electoral skullduggery and a worsening Muslim uprising. Many people were surprised, but few in Bangkok seemed disappointed.
Sondhi, known to be close to Thailand's constitutional monarch, will serve as acting prime minister, army spokesman Col Akarat Chitroj said. Sondhi, well-regarded within the military, is a Muslim in the Buddhist-dominated nation.
Sondhi, 59, was selected last year to head the army partly because it was felt he could better deal with the Muslim uprising in southern Thailand, where 1,700 people have been killed since 2004. Recently, Sondhi urged negotiations with the separatists in contrast to Thaksin's hardline approach.
Former prime minister Chuan Leekpai, a member of the opposition Democrat Party, reflected an ambivalence likely to surface in coming days.
"As politicians, we do not support any kind of coup, but during the past five years the government of Thaksin created several conditions that forced the military to stage the coup. Thaksin has caused the crisis in the country," he told The Associated Press.
Thaksin, a telecommunications tycoon turned politician, handily won three general elections since coming to power in 2001 and garnered great support among the rural poor for his populist policies.
But he alienated the urban middle class, intellectuals and pro-democracy activists. They began mass street demonstrations late last year, accusing Thaksin with abuse of power, corruption and emasculation of the country's democratic institutions, including what was once one of Asia's freest presses.
The bloodless coup was the first overt military intervention in the Thai political scene since 1991, when Suchinda Kraprayoon, a military general, toppled a civilian government in a bloodless takeover. He was ousted in 1992, following street demonstrations. Afterwards, the military promised to remain in its barracks, in contrast to earlier decades when military coups were a staple of Thai politics.
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