Hours ago, news broke of a military coup in Thailand to topple Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the country’s political leader since 2001. For months, Thaksin had withstood accusations of corruption and mass protests calling for his resignation. In response to the latest events, Cairns Media Magazine consulted a political analyst familiar with Thailand’s northern, southern and central regions.

Editor: Any reaction to the latest events?

Analyst: A bottle of wine to celebrate!

Editor: You’re pleased then? This couldn’t happen to a more appropriate leader?

Analyst: It was almost inevitable.

Editor: The former prime minister was travelling and may not return home?

Analyst: Probably not. I see that most members of Thaksin’s cabinet fled the country before they could be arrested.

The main issue for the moment is whether the good guys firmly have the upper hand. Thaksin has plenty of his own supporters in the military willing to protect him.

Editor: Interesting days there.

Analyst: Thailand needs a thorough house-cleaning. After five years of Thaksin, the whole system has been absolutely corrupted. But I’ll be annoyed if Western countries condemn the coup and come to Thaksin’s support with very little understanding of the real situation.

Actually, it’s fortunate that amid all the corruption, Thailand still has a few good men willing to fight for right, and the army commander, General Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, is definitely one of them. It probably raises Western eyebrows that a Muslim army commander has taken control of Buddhist Thailand, but I reckon he’s a wonderful role model.

Editor: Hopefully, there’ll be an elected government again soon.

Analyst: Preferably not too soon. First, the country needs changes and house-cleaning to prevent all this from happening again. And Thaksin needs to be dealt with. Personally, I’d like to see him charged with crimes and his assets seized. He needs to be made into an example so that future politicians will think twice before engaging in questionable games at the expense of the country.

Editor: What do your contacts among the Thai people say?

Analyst: In a manner of speaking, many of them are dancing among the rubber trees. They had hoped the courts would take care of Thaksin, but probably that was too much to hope. He had no intention of stepping down and was willing to see any amount of damage inflicted on the country to protect his financial interests.

Things were coming to a head quickly. There was a huge anti-Thaksin protest planned in Bangkok. I hear that the government was bringing in armed forestry police to clash with the protesters.

Thaksin tried to bring the army out to deal with protesters before, but General Sondhi refused, therefore the reliance on forestry police as the government’s goons.

Editor: Better days ahead for Thailand?

Analyst: It’s early yet. Assuming that Thaksin’s military friends back down, the people still need to worry about his henchmen organizing protests against the coup, particularly in the north and northeast where rural folks aren’t fully informed and whose loyalties are easily bought. This would give the impression that the coup lacks popular support.

But for the moment, the bottom line is that officers with integrity and loyalty to the King have taken control so there’s reason for happiness. Right now, Thailand can’t worry too much about democracy! The parliament and senate are full of corruption and people on the Thai Rak Thai Party’s payroll. The country needs to clean house and start again.

Editor: That’s all very interesting.

Analyst: It may help that many Thais have been protesting in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York, which helps signal to the world that Thailand truly has big problems and plenty of public dissatisfaction with the Thaksin mafia.

People have long debated whether Thaksin or Sondhi had enough clout and military backing to win in a showdown like this. Sondhi has acted so I hope he can stay on top. But if Thaksin’s loyalists leave their barracks, we may see a confrontation within the Thai military.

By the way, you can follow along on The Nation newspaper’s Website: www.nationmultimedia.com/.

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Thaksin's gone:
good riddance?

Thaksin (left) enjoys a past
powwow with George W. Bush.