Bangkok- State of emergency

[ahhuat]

be careful

[kwanteen]

Caretaker PM tries to fight back

Shortly after receiving news of an attempted coup in Bangkok caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra gathered reporters representing the Thai news media to his New York hotel at about 9pm Thai time.

He told them he had been informed of the coup attempt and was about to address the nation via an Internet broadcast on staterun television Channel 9. He would declare a state of emergency.

Meanwhile, in Bangkok soldiers were seen surrounding the Thaicom satellite receiving station at Khae Rai at about 9.30pm. Another group of troops seized control of staterun television sta¬tion Channel 11.


Tanks and personnel carriers were observed on Rajdamnoen Avenue and its nearby vicinity surprising onlookers.


Troops were deployed at the Tevet Intersection and at the resi¬dence of Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda for his security.


By press time this morning tanks and military vehicles armed with machine guns were stationed at Government House, the Royal Plaza and government units along Rajdamnoen Avenue.


At Government House, reporters were asked to leave the building and remain outside while Cabinet secretarygeneral Prommin Lertsuridej and Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Vanasatidya rushed in.


As news of the attempted coup spread, senior military commanders met at Armyrun television Channel 5 headquarters. It was suspected they were preparing to announce the coup.


A group of pro-Thaksin officers, meanwhile, reportedly met at the home of Defence Minister Thamarak Isarangura.


At about 10.30pm, a bus loaded with soldiers from the 11th Military Police Battalion arrived at Government House. Their com¬mander spent about five minutes negotiating with the security staff before the troops were allowed inside without any resistance.


Sources said troops participating in the coup were from the 1st and 3rd Army Regions, the Internal Security Operations Command, the Special Warfare Centre and Army units in Nakhon Ratchasima and Prachin Buri provinces and sections of the Navy.


Before announcing his state of emergency Thaksin had decided to return home ahead of schedule and should be back in the country by tomorrow. However, his movements in the event of a successful coup remained uncertain.


Sources said Thamarak and Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand director Mingkwan Saengsuwan, who oversees television Channel 9, were detained by troops following the broadcast of Thaksin's announce¬ment.


Soldiers wearing yellow identification cloth on their fatigues above the right breast seized the station.

[kwanteen]

Army units in Bangkok ordered to stand by in case of emergency: source


A senior army officer said Army Commander-in-Chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin ordered all divisions and unit in Bangkok to be on alert on around-the-clock basis.

The source said Sonthi instructed commanders of divisions and units in Bangkok to monitor the situation closely and instruct their subordinates to be on alert in their units.

The source said Sonthi asked the soldiers to be on stand by in case a protest against caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin on Wednesday turns violent.

The Nation

[kwanteen]

Months of rumours come true

Finally, it had come down to a military showdown.


Fighting vehemently to ward off a coup plot against his government while he was still in New York, caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had to act first. He went on TV Channel 9 at about 10:20 PM in a voiceover to head off the coup at home by placing Bangkok under an emergency law.


Strangely enough, other TV channels did not cover the prime minister's speech. TV Channel 5 still aired a programme about the royal activities as if nothing had happened. But the Thais all knew that something very unusual was going on when Channel 5, controlled by the Royal Army, removed its usual programme from the air.


Rumours had swirled around the capital since the morning that a coup was imminent. There were unusual troop movements from the upcountry moving into Bangkok. The two persons who got the most attention from the Thaksin camp were Gen Sonthi Boonyaratklin, the army chief, and Gen Anupong Phaochinda, the head of the First Infantry Division.


The First Infantry Division had turned out to become the headquarters of unusual troop|movements. One military source said troops from Prachin Buri, which used to be under Gen Anupong, were arriving at the First Infantry Division on the Viphavadee Rangsit Road in the evening. They were joined by the troops of the Special Warfare Command from Lopburi, which used to be under the command of Gen Sonthi.


But the members of Class 10 of the Chulachom Klao Military Academy, who are loyal to Thaksin, were standing by. They knew that the final showdown had come. They got the Third and Fourth Calvary Battalion, the AntiAircraft Artillery prepared within their barracks.


There was a tense confrontation between the two opposing sides. Who would blink first?


Whoever moved first in this dangerous game could be charged with treason against the state or the Constitution.


A fuming Thaksin had realised all along that his battle against the Thai elite would boil down to this military confrontation. Through a voiceover heard over Channel 9, Thaksin read out the emergency statement ordering Gen Sonthi to report to the Office of the Prime Minister under the command of Pol Gen Chidchai Vanasaditya, the deputy prime minister.


This technically amounted to a removal of Sonthi from his powerful post. He then assigned Ruengroj Mahasaranond, the supreme commander, to be in charge of all aspects of security in Bangkok.


Thaksin learnt about the plot while he was in New York. At 9pm Bangkok time, he went to his hotel room and called the reporters from the Mass Communication Organisation of Thailand and Channel 11 to tell them that he would have an important message to tell them.


As it turned out, he would declare a state of emergency covering Bangkok in order to preempt a military coup at home. He thought he had an upper hand because he was an elected leader of a democratic country.


But logistics did not go his way. Thaksin planned to have his message sent via satellite signal to Channel 9. But he was told that it could not be done technically. It would work out better if he spoke over the phone directly to the TV channel.


Thaksin decided to switch to Channel 11 to air his state of emergency declaration. But before he could do so, the military took over Channel 11. The editors and reporters were taken to another room.


All the other statecontrolled TV stations, owned by the military, were ordered to stand by to air an important message.


But somehow Thaksin did not face a total blackout. He was allowed to air his state of emergency declaration on Channel 9, with a still photo of him accompanied by his live telephone speech.


Sources said the military confrontation could last until tomorrow while all the combat military personnel were summoned to station in their bases.


At the time of going to the press, nobody would dare predict the final outcome.


Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai appeared on CNN to try to calm the international audience, who had been wondering all along about the timing of the new election, about the political crisis in the capital. He said the army chief was trying to oust the democratically elected government and that Thaksin was still prime minister.


But a few minutes later, at 11pm, the Gen Sonthi camp effectively took over with tanks parking at all the strategic places around the capital.


A military coup was finally staged.


It was as much a military war as a media war for control of the time slot.


A statement was read out through all the TV channels that all the armed and police forces had taken control of Bangkok and the neighbouring areas without resistance. The names of the coup leaders, who called themselves a military reformist unit, were withheld. To maintain peace, the statement on behalf of the Political Reform Group sought cooperation from the public to maintain peace. It also apologised for any inconvenience the coup may cause to the Thai public.


At first, it looked like a deadlock situation, without any party showing an upper hand or a convincing victory as yet. The situation was very confusing and remained very fluid.


Troops supporting to the Thaksin camp still put up a resistance as of last night. There were reports that troops from Prachin Buri and Chacheongsao would move into the capital early this morning to fortify the position of Gen Sonthi.


As the day was over, it appeared that the Gen Sonthi camp gained the advantage. Gen Sonthi appeared from the shadow to make a countermove by announcing a state of emergency to override Thaksin's announcement earlier. He forbid any troop movements without his order.


Political sources said it would be interesting to see how the confrontation would develop and how the Thaksin camp would rally supporters to protest against the coup.


Nobody could predict the final outcome as Thaksin looked serious that he would fight to his political end. Thaksin could go to the UN to tell the whole world not to accept the coup at home.


The Sonthi camp has also crossed the threshold into uncharted territories.


The Nation

[kwanteen]

COUP D'ETAT IN THAILAND

by Bangkokpost.com

The army commander Gen Sonthi Boonyarataglin staged a coup d'etat Tuesday evening (Thailand time) and ousted the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

A so-called "Democratic Reform Council" declared itself in control and declared martial law nationwide. Terse announcements said it included the commanders of all three armed forces and the police. It said the coup was necessary to correct "unprecedented division in the country."

The Council said there seemed to be widespread corruption, and independent agenies were subverted by politicians, apparently a reference to the Thaksin government. "The national government through the current administration has caused conflicts and undermined the harmony of the people as never before in history."

Public acceptance remained unknown. The coup occurred late Tuesday night, when Bangkok was under a major rainstorm, and few people were seen on the streets.

The opposition had scheduled a major anti-Thaksin rally for Wednesday. The last military coup, in 1991, was extremely unpopular and was overthrown by violent opposition in the streets.

Officers this time promised to hold power for as short a time as possible. An announcement over the name of Gen Sonthi, a Special Forces veteran long seen as apolitical, promised: "The council is steadfast in its objective, which is not to take over the government permanently and it will hand back the power to the people as soon as possible."

The Council repealed the 1997 "people's constitution" and dissolved both houses of parliament, the government and the constitution court. Announcements said the Council was under the King, and confirmed that the Privy Council and all courts except the Constitution Court remained in power.

(NOTE: Texts of the first three official announcements are at the end of this story)

Retired Gen Surayudh Chulanont, a respected former military commander now a member of the royal Privy Council, was announced as prime minister to replace Mr Thaksin. There was no early word how log the generals intended to remain in power, or what their reforms would be.

Mr Thaksin was in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, and had earlier tried to dismiss Gen Sonthi and order troops back to their barracks. His order, via a voice broadcast on TV and radio, was cut off halfway as the dramatic coup unfolded.

Tanks and troops of the Fourth Cavalry Battalion moved into strategic points in Bangkok, including the Royal Plaza.

Like most of the previous 19 military coups since 1932, there was no violence. Tanks surrounded Government House and apparently some newspaper offices. All broadcasting on local TV was interrupted, and replaced by a notice which stated the military takeover and apologised "for any inconvenience."

In the early hours of the coup, most other communications continued uninterrupted. But after several hours, all cable-TV broadcasts were cut, apparently because Mr Thaksin and other Thai ministers were giving interviews to CNN and the BBC, which are widely seen in Bangkok.

Thailand airports remained open, including the main international airport at Bangkok.

Thailand websites including the Bangkok Post were operating under very heavy loads as people tried to find out what was happening. The Bangkok Post newspaper was being prepared and printed for Wednesday morning. The front page headline was a huge, black and capitalised statement:

COUP D'ETAT

As always, local broadcast media contained no breaking updates.

Mr Thaksin said he would return to Thailand from New York. The shadowy coup administrators said he would not be allowed to resume his post as prime minister.

Sources told the Bangkok Post that Privy Council president Gen Prem Tinsulananonda had tried and failed to mediate between the coup forces and another army faction loyal to Mr Thaksin. Gen Prem was summoned to the Royal Palace.

The whereabouts of most of the members the government were unknown. Mr Thaksin, Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkol were in New York. Deputy Prime Minister Chidchai Wannasathit, the caretaker premier, was reportedly detained by the military.

Text of Official announcements:

Announcements:

The national government through the current administration has caused conflicts and undermined the harmony of the people as never before in history.

Each side is determined to win by any means and the discord has shown a tendency to escalate.

Many people have been suspicious about the actions of the national administration under a constitutional monarchy.

The country has been governed in a way as to suggest widespread corruption. The independent agencies have been dominated by politics. The constitutional intention has been left unserved.

This has led to political activities becoming problem-plagued on many fronts and the situation had worsened to the point where violations against His Majesty the King, whom the people hold in the highest regard, are in danger of occurring. This is despite efforts by many sections of society to resolve the problem on a continued basis. The efforts have not pacified the growing tension, however. For this reason, the Democratic Reform Council with the monarch as its head, which comprises the armed forces leaders and chief of the Royal Thai Police Office, has found it imperative to seize the power of government from this point onward. The council is steadfast in its objective, which is not to take over the government permanently and it will hand back the power to the people as soon as possible.

The council is committed to preserving national peace and security and to upholding the monarchy whom we Thais hold in the highest respect.

First coup announcement:

In reference to the council's announcement of its power seizure earlier, for the sake of peace and order to prevail in the country, the council has imposed nationwide martial law. The council has repealed the state of emergency declared on Sept 19 at 9.05pm. This announcement is made by Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, head of the Democratic Reform Council.

Second coup announcement:

The council has ordered that all mobilisation and movement of military logistics and manpower be prohibited. Military personnel are absolutely not to leave their units without permission from the council.

Third coup announcement:

1. The current constitution, drafted in 1997, is now repealed.
2. The House of Representatives, the Senate, the Cabinet and the Constitution Court are now dissolved along with the abrogation of the constitution.
3. The privy councillors will remain in their duty.
4. The courts of justice, except the Constitution Court, will retain their full power to adjudicate cases according to the law and the announcements of the council.

Update time: 02:20 am Wednesday September 2006 Thailand time.