2006 coup - a major financial setback: Suranand
Play
The September 19, 2006, coup not only deprived Thailand of true democracy, it also stalled major investment in the country for a period, Suranand Vejjajiva, secretary-general to PM Yingluck Shinawatra, said yesterday on the seventh anniversary of the oust
Suranand used the occasion to stress the importance of the government’s proposed Bt2-trillion transport-infrastructure investment project. Lack of infrastructure investment since the coup meant that Thailand had fallen behind, he said.
Deputy PM Phongthep Thepkanjana said the coup was a good lesson for Thais and showed them the damage the putsch had caused to the country. He said unlike a democracy, other political systems did not have self-correcting mechanisms. The world community, he added, was moving towards democracy, as military rule created difficulties in trading with other nations.
A group of 80 red-shirt anti-coup demonstrators, led by Chulalongkorn University academic Suda Rangkupan, held a commemoration in front of the Parliament yesterday and accused the Abhisit Vejjajiva administration of using the 2006 coup to piggyback its way to power.
Suda urged the government to pass the amnesty bill quickly so political prisoners could be freed, and also called on it to amend the Constitution, including ending the system of appointing senators.
