Thai coup uproots a thin democracy

A bloodless coup in Thailand has upended the country's fragile democracy, to the delight of many middle-class activists who had campaigned for months for the removal of Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist prime minister. But the manner of his removal by Army officers loyal to the Thai monarch exposes the shallow roots of the democratic institutions that grew in the shadow of past military regimes.

Mr. Thaksin, whose party has won three elections since 2001, had repeatedly accused his opponents of plotting a coup. Wednesday, Thailand's king endorsed the military coup leaders, who have pledged to restore civilian rule within weeks.

The readiness of self-styled democrats to condone the military action reflects the conservative grounding of Thailand's urban political culture, which is shaped more by royalist hierarchy than well-defined checks and balances on a strong executive.

"They should use the rule of law to pin him down, rather than use a gun to get him out," says Pasuk Phongpaichit, coauthor of a critical biography on Thaksin. "I think it's important now that the coup group puts in place a new Constitution very quickly, or it could backfire and impact the economy."

Other critics of Thaksin, however, say that given his lock on the political system, and gutting of institutional checks and balances, there was no other way to end the stalemate. Thaksin packed courts with allies, politicized the nominally nonpartisan Senate, and muzzled television news. During a 2003 antidrugs campaign, Thaksin cheered when over 2,000 suspected dealers were shot dead in what rights groups called extrajudicial killings.

"There was no peaceful solution because Thaksin didn't play by the rules of the game, he only played by his own rules. We've tried all possible means to remove Thaksin," says Kasit Piromya, a member of the opposition Democrat Party and former ambassador to the US. "Thailand has not been a democracy for the past five years. Thaksin turned the whole democratic system into an authoritarian regime."

The coup leaders described their action as a response to deepening social rifts and to widespread corruption. "The government's rule was widely tainted with corruption and to benefit cronies," said Army commander Sondhi Boonyarataklin. "Letting that situation continue could have hurt the nation's security and economy."

The new ruling council has the power to censor domestic and foreign news reports and ban public gatherings of five or more people. But General Sondhi vowed to restore constitutional rule and undertake political reforms – a rallying cry of the opposition parties in Parliament – within two weeks. He said no action would be taken against members of the ousted government. However, several Army officers loyal to Thaksin have reportedly been detained, including the head of the civilian intelligence agency.

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