Comments on: Coup… What does that mean for thailand

By: drizzt

drizzt — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:03:36 +0000

thanks for visiting my blog steven. its been a pleasure of mine. will be visiting bangkok next week. any good recommendations?

regards.

By: ralfale

ralfale — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 14:04:33 +0000

Hi steven,

Its very nice to read from someone who’s really in thailand and understands the whole situation.
Very informative for us .. thank you

By: steven chng

steven chng — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 14:00:59 +0000

Hi drizzt
Forgot to answer your last question.
I found your blog through a link in another blog (sorry, can’t remember which one).

By: steven chng

steven chng — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 13:58:18 +0000

Hi drizzt
To answer your questions:
1) I decided to move to Thailand long before I retired. And , no, I’m not a PR and don’t intend to apply to be one as I still consider Singapore where I was born, grew up and served as my home. Two of my 3 children and 3 of my 7 grandchildren are in Singapore and I do return to visit them as often as I can.
2) The armed forces in Thailand had a strong say in how the country was being governed throughout the history of Thailand. Even when democracy was introduced, elected governments almost always placed police and army generals (here the ranks of police officers are the same as the armed forces, hence, we have police generals as well) in important political positions/roles.
As to the question of why there were so many coups here in the past, I can only tell you what I’ve learnt from my reading of Thai history and I’ve come to the conclusion that more often than not, it’s partly because of the corruption and nepotism of the government and partly because some army generals were power-crazy. But the Thais had a strong dislike for coups and had fought for democracy against every coup causing a lot of bloodshed. The last coup before the current one was staged by Gen. Suchinda, toppling the government of Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan who was then a popular PM. If you remember, there was hunger strikes, street protests and unrest. Gen. Suchinda order the army to fire at the protestors who were mostly university student and hundreds of them were killed and seriously injured. Gen. Suchinda was power-crazy man who then named himself Prime Minister of Thailand. The King Thailand had to step in after just over a month of bloodshed. He told Gen. Suchinda to relinquish his post and appointed Anand Panyarachun as interim PM and democratic election was held 3 months later which saw Chuan Leekpai and his Democratic Party in power. The army then stated that they would stage any more coups and for 14 years (longest without coup), they kept their words.
So how and why is the current coup so different from all previous ones that the vast majority of Thai welcome it (latest poll a leading Bangkok university found >98% polled are for the coup)? I’ve given the answer to this question in the earlier posts, I hope the answer is clear.

By: drizzt

drizzt — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 23:22:52 +0000

Hi steven, don’t mind me asking but when did you decide to settle down in thailand and are you a thailand PR?

Could you tell me why there is so much coups in the past with regards to Thailand? what is the army’s agenda normally?

And lastly, how did you managed to find my humble blog here?

regards,

Drizzt

By: steven chng

steven chng — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:28:05 +0000

Hi drizzt. it’s nice to be able to air my views here. In fact, what I would love very much to do is to change the perceptions of the non-resident foreigners of Thailand (or aliens, as they call us in Thai language, no offence intended) .
I feel sad that this country and her people have suffered so much for so long under so many political parties and leaders who were no better than each other. My neighbours and golf buddies kept telling me that if not for the King, Thailand would have fallen into pieces long before today.
My gardener and maids didn’t want to go and vote on polling days (I have live here through several elections already) and instead came to work. I told them to go and exercise their rights in choosing a government. They told me that they didn’t care who won the election or who became their prime minister as it wouldn’t make any difference to their lives. They would remain just as poor if they’re lucky and even poorer if unlucky.
Much as I tried to explain to them why they should go and vote, it was futile and I had to accept their views and life experiences under so many different governments that invariably promised them better lives. But time and again they were disappointed and disillusioned.
Singaporeans are lucky to have such clean, honest and caring government for so long that I am sure we don’t really know what it is like to be living under governments like the ones here.
But you are right, drizzt, when you said “…….or the people in thailand have such a strong ability to get on with their lives in adversity”.
Yes, I love Thailand and admire the Thais for their fighting spirit in adversity.

By: drizzt

drizzt — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 14:33:07 +0000

Hi steven,
thanks for your first hand views. it has been a good learning exchange.

Regards.

By: steven chng

steven chng — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 14:28:26 +0000

Hi drizzt
A person elected by popular vote through democratic means may turn out to be a dictator, e.g. President Marcos of the Phillippines. , Thaksin would soon become another if not for the coup.
The coup leaders are not interested in politics. They had to take this course of action to prevent the country falling into chaos and civil war which had never happened in the history of Thailand. Those who come to Thailand for holidays and business do not understand the Thais’ way of thinking. To the westerners any coup is bad and undemocratic which theThais had seemed to agreed from their reaction to all their previous coups. But this time round, The Thais (or at least the majority) welcome the coup. Why? Because they know that it’s the last resort to prevent the country falling into civil war.
The question I want to ask foreigners who kept giving bad comments about the coup is”Would you rather have a civil war or a coup followed by an interim government and then a general election a year later?”
Thailand had appointed interim governments before. One led by Prem and another led by Anand Panyarachun and the country emerged better off.
As for your question about foreigners doing business in Thailand and money flows into the country, my view is that after an initial knee-jerk reaction, things will soon be back to normal. In fact I think the economy should get better if the new government can really rid the country of corruption especially at the highest level of the government hierachy.
You need to stay in Thailand for years and talk to people frm all walks of life to really understand that this is a truly amazing country full of amazing peace loving people.

By: drizzt

drizzt — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 00:13:19 +0000

Hi steven, if that is what they feel then do they think that a person elected by a dictatorship that is suppose to be democratic be able to exercise democracy well?

How do you think this affects foreigners doing business in Thailand? My view is that such protectionist actions will be detrimental to the countries image to attact money flows to the countries.

Thanks and regards.

By: steven chng

steven chng — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 15:15:21 +0000

Hi drizzt, it’s true that the middle class dislike Thaksin almost from the time he became PM of Thailand and the majority of the lower income and poor farmers liked him (up to recently, that is). I live in a upper-middle class resort-style development and most of my neighbours are well-off businessmen, doctors, university lecturers and dons and a few bankers and Central Bank senior staff. I play golf with them and we talk about politics and the economy quite a lot (favourite subjects of Thai middle class) . As far as I can discern from our conversations, they feel neglected (in their bid to climb the social ladder) by the Thaksin govt. which kept talking about eradicating poverty(which incidentally proved to be nothing but blowing hot air) in order to gain support of the majority of voters in this still predominantly agricultural country. After Thaksin’s 1st term in office and numerous policies to help the poor farmers failed to better their lives and instead made them fall deeper in debt, the poor farmers now have started to show their disdain for him, too. If you had read a Bangkok Post’s report (published after the coup) on how Thaksin had irritated and annoyed the royal family with his arrogance and publicity-seeking behaviour, you would also understand why the King had endorsed the coup.
It will take too long for me to relate my findings (through conversations with my maids and gardener and their poor farmer neighbours) what Thaksin and his ministers had done to make them change from a liking to a disdain for him. Suffice for me to say that he had lost the support and trust of the majority of the people who had supported him and voted him into office, not once only, but twice.