Tales of Coup d'etat

by Eko Prasetyo @ 12:58 PM Military Coup d’etat took place in Thailand two days ago, after a said “period of high tensions between office of prime minister and offices of the military and police”. It took place when the overtaken prime minister, Thaksin Siniwatra was attending a United Nation General Meeting in New York. The general who lead the coup d’etat was said to be “close to the King of Thai”, and said to be “a muslim”.   See any complication?   First, the said general said the he “dismisses all of parliamentary and cabinet”. A military general, who supposes to be far from politic, is taking over a political matter. This signifies that civil powers are not present enough in Thailand. One can blame the overtaken Thaksin for this lack of civil power. Said to be corrupt and full of nepotism, Thaksin is said to have shut any civil politicians that deviate from his “wisdom”. This make the current King, Bhumibol Adulyadej, seeks another “medium of voice”. The only option left is out of the civil power, the military.   Sonthi Boonyaratglin came into view. The first Muslim to hold the office of military chief-of-commander of Thai Army in the nation's history, more recently he became embroiled in the kingdom's political deadlock, acting at times as an unofficial voice for Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej in the crisis which has gripped the country for most of the year In promoting Boonyaratglin, the government was hoping to bring order to the violent southern provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, where more than 800 (and possibly as many as 1,200) people have died in bombings and targeted attacks by Muslim insurgents. Sonthi's supporters said at the time that he could help counter the impression that the government discriminates against Muslims.. It is quite a two-edged sword. One, a muslim soldier is hoped to contain violence (suspected) caused by muslims is like telling one brother to shut his brother up. This can become nice if the brothers are understanding each other, but if the soldier is told to contain the civil in “military way”, this may lead to another southern-muslims distrust for Thai military.Two, concerns would come from the Buddhists soldiers, the ones who are the majority bulk of the Thai Army. If this muslim general shows any partial, muslim weighted decisions regarding the south, his command will be weakened and the army will power be in the same state as the civil power: content but disordered.   One interesting thing is this muslim general closeness with the titular King, the much loved Bhumibol Adulyadej. This shows that actually there’s nothing wrong with being a muslim in a Thai military. Perhaps, there’s nothing wrong for being a Moslem in Thailand. Because of his relationship with the palace, Sonthi role in the coup is again being widely interpreted as a signal of the king's unhappiness with the political situation under Thaksin. The king preference to military faction signals the ultimate general populace distrust in the civil power, because Bhumibol is known to reflect the majority of his people, and very much love and loved by his people. Everything he says will be heard by the people.   So, when he said that Sonthi Boonyaratglin, a muslim general, is okay to perform a Coup d’etat, no one will protest, except perhaps Thaksin and his Shin Corps cronies.   The fact above also shows that no matter what kind of government a country have, good leaders are the ones who determine its value.   And the fact that there is a coup d’etat in Thailand shows that the laws, no matter how good they were conceived, are meant to be broken.             | My Alter Ego | Blogroll Me! | |