Skip to content
Support Us

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

AP/Press Association Images

Thailand's coup leaders to hold ousted government to give them "time to think"

Thailand’s fragile democracy has been repeatedly stunted by 19 actual or attempted coups since 1932.

THAILAND’S MILITARY JUNTA says it has disbanded the Senate and placed all law-making authority in the army chief’s hands, dramatically tightening its grip after a coup that has sparked Bangkok protests and drawn international condemnation.

The regime also confirmed it had detained former premier Yingluck Shinawatra and scores of other ousted government leaders and would hold them for up to a week as it corralled potential opponents to its takeover.

An army bulletin on national television said “The Senate is dismissed. Responsibility for any laws needing the approval of the parliament or Senate will instead be assumed by the leader of the (junta).”

Thailand’s fragile democracy has been repeatedly stunted by 19 actual or attempted coups since 1932.

Analysts called today’s developments an ominous sign that the junta led by the army chief, General Prayut Chan-O-Cha, could be digging in for a long-term, pervasive takeover, as it had earlier said the Senate would be retained.

Sporadic protests flared in Bangkok for a second straight day, with hundreds of demonstrators defying a ban on political gatherings to denounce the coup, echoing calls from Washington, the EU and elsewhere around the world for the restoration of civilian rule.

Thailand Politics AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Prayut seized control Thursday after anti-government forces had waged a several-month campaign, marked by deadly Bangkok street protests, to oust Thailand’s civilian leaders.

Civil liberties have been curbed, media restrictions imposed, most of the constitution abrogated, and rival protesters from both sides of the political divide cleared from the capital.

King ‘acknowledges’ coup

Political analysts view the coup as part of a long-running effort by a Bangkok-based power elite, aligned with the monarchy and military, to eliminate the political dominance of Yingluck’s elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin, a billionaire telecoms tycoon, shook up Thai politics by winning devotion among millions of rural poor with populist measures, catapulting him to prime minister in 2001 polls.

He was deposed in 2006 in a military coup, fleeing abroad two years later to avoid a corruption conviction but his family and allies have continued his success at the ballot box.

The military today said that Prayut had sent a letter regarding his takeover to the country’s revered king, Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The monarch, 86, commands great respect among his subjects, and his blessing is traditionally sought to legitimise Thailand’s recurring military takeovers.

The army said the king had “acknowledged” Prayut’s letter, but stopped short of describing the response as an endorsement.

The palace has yet to issue a statement on the crisis.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a Thai politics researcher at Japan’s Kyoto University, said the general’s assumption of law-making authority indicates a looming “full-scale authoritarianism or military despotism.”

He said:

By taking full control of the executive, legislative and judicial branches, and now the Senate, this shows the military is setting itself up as the sovereign.

Briefing the media for the first time since the coup, the military said Yingluck and other prominent figures had been taken in under a martial law provision allowing detentions of up to seven days without charge.

Yingluck detained

It was not known whether any charges were being prepared, but military officials said the detainees were in no danger.

“(Yingluck) is under detention, and she is fine,” said Lieutenant General Thirachai Nakwanich, head of the military command for central Thailand including Bangkok.

A military official told AFP she was being held at an unspecified army barracks in Bangkok.

A night-time curfew imposed by the junta has tamed the capital’s often rowdy tourist districts, further chilling a vital visitor industry already cooled by the long-term strife.

Washington, which has led criticism of the coup, took its first concrete steps, suspending $3.5 million in military assistance to its ally, about one-third of its Thai aid. Further cuts were being considered.

The constitution was replaced after 2006 with one intended to curb Thaksin’s electoral influence.

“This time, the constitutional changes will be more thorough,” Thai politics analyst Paul Chambers said.

He said measures could include “electoral gerrymandering, even more power granted to the judiciary, and finally, more power granted to the army.”

Anti-Thaksin forces, alleging corruption in Yingluck’s administration, have staged months of deadly Bangkok protests that led to at least 28 deaths and triggered counter-demonstrations by the pro-Thaksin “Red Shirt” movement.

Tensions spiralled in early May when a court ruling controversially stripped Yingluck of office, setting the stage for the coup.

The “Red Shirts” had earlier warned a coup could trigger civil war but are yet to mount a clear response.

However, for the second straight day, demonstrators gathered in at least two locations in central Bangkok to rail against the junta.

“I have the right to vote and I want to make it clear that they cannot just steal it from me with a coup,” said a tour guide who identified himself only as Piti. The protesters in Bangkok said they were not Red Shirts.

No serious confrontations have yet been reported, but AFP reporters witnessed several people being taken into custody in various locations.

- © AFP, 2014

Read: Travelling to Thailand? Irish citizens advised to ‘exercise extreme caution’>

Author
View 5 comments
Close
5 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Andy McGranaghan
    Favourite Andy McGranaghan
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 10:03 PM

    It’s expensive!

    165
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jim Buckley Barrett
    Favourite Jim Buckley Barrett
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 10:38 PM

    @Andy McGranaghan: don’t worry the greens will sort it out with a new tax

    102
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Colette Kearns
    Favourite Colette Kearns
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 10:46 PM

    @Jim Buckley Barrett: Already started!

    46
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Gorry
    Favourite Paul Gorry
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 11:00 PM

    @Andy McGranaghan: Its a shocking commodity for sure.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hugh Morris
    Favourite Hugh Morris
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 11:40 PM

    @Paul Gorry: baddum tish

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute
    Favourite
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 10:23 PM

    Enough to say bringing in competition has had the complete opposite result to what competition was meant to bring , security of supply , lower prices . Well done regulator and government a complete failure .

    126
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom Kelly
    Favourite Tom Kelly
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 10:50 PM

    Seriously
    With data centers taking 25% of our electricity and been capable of absorbing 300% more than Irelands requirements of data storage, while generating minimal employment after construction, in a country with one of the highest electrical charges in Europe, why pick us ?
    We’re gulable, or at least some are, in our elected reprersantion.

    88
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard
    Favourite Richard
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 11:25 PM

    @Tom Kelly: that’s like saying “why even build a road, sure they employ no one after” and blatantly ignore a critical piece of infrastructure that directly supports the jobs and lives of countless people.

    53
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Edmund Orlando
    Favourite Edmund Orlando
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 11:33 PM

    @Tom Kelly: jaysus, someone downed a bottle of serious from the top shelf.

    28
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Garreth mc mahon
    Favourite Garreth mc mahon
    Report
    Sep 26th 2021, 9:16 AM

    @Tom Kelly: cheaper to run HVAC systems here due ti temperature conditions, mist probably on better rates than consumers, lower business tax rates and US-EU interconnector runs through here

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Kelly
    Favourite John Kelly
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 11:42 PM

    These quizes used to be good but alas no longer

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Badger the witness
    Favourite Badger the witness
    Report
    Sep 26th 2021, 11:21 AM

    @John Kelly: indeed, I was looking forward to a quiz about electricity, Bob Dylan my Arše!

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Miriam
    Favourite Miriam
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 11:00 PM

    it’s shocking expensive

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard Cronin
    Favourite Richard Cronin
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 11:40 PM

    Many years & moons ago I got my hands on caterpillar 4kW kerosene generator, & it has been in the shed for some time. It is going to get a service test fire & a full tank tomorrow, for just in case.

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Richard Cronin
    Favourite Richard Cronin
    Report
    Sep 26th 2021, 11:38 AM

    @Richard Cronin: took about an hour & a 1/2 of fettling now its purring like a 3 cylinder kitten

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
    Favourite Fiona Fitzgerald
    Report
    Sep 26th 2021, 7:25 PM

    @Richard Cronin: Good going. Have you got a carbon monoxide detector? Handy tips here:

    https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a35537361/carbon-monoxide-poisoning-how-to-avoid/

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Graeme Leech
    Favourite Graeme Leech
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 10:48 PM

    Shockingly little

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom Kelly
    Favourite Tom Kelly
    Report
    Sep 25th 2021, 10:50 PM

    Seriously
    With data centers taking 25% of our electricity and been capable of absorbing 300% more than Irelands requirements of data storage, while generating minimal employment after construction, in a country with one of the highest electrical charges in Europe, why pick us ?
    We’re gulable, or at least some are, in our elected reprersantion.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
    Favourite Fiona Fitzgerald
    Report
    Sep 26th 2021, 12:13 AM

    First time I’ve retaken a quiz to get a better image – that eel skull frightened me.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cáit Mulcahy
    Favourite Cáit Mulcahy
    Report
    Sep 26th 2021, 11:52 AM

    Spent the last 10 mins reading about Cataumbo Lightning… mad sh!t altogether!

    6
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds