Coup not preferred option, but it worked
Play
As a resident of Bangkok since the premiership of General Kriangsak Chamanan, and having lived through several coups, the yellow shirts, red shirts and 2014 anti-government protests,
I’d be the first to acknowledge ignorance about the mysteries of Thai politics. I suggest most farang, including JC Wilcox, our polymath contributor to the letters column, feel the same.
The “Bangkok Shutdown” began on January 13, 2014, with Suthep Thaugsuban and People’s Democratic Reform Committee blocking Rachaprasong, the Silom/Rama IV Road junction and several other key locations. They disrupted daily lives, education and government service. Businesses in these areas suffered massive losses. The situation degenerated into violence. There was nothing legal about those protests, but apparently this was just fine for JC Wilcox.
On the day of the coup, May 22, 2014, General Prayut Chan-o-cha read a statement on television saying the violence had escalated to such an extent that it could undermine national security and public safety.
I welcomed the coup. The intimidating goons disappeared and within two days all the tents, sound equipment and truckloads of junk were cleared away. A relative sense of normalcy was restored, despite a 10pm-to-5am curfew. However, instead of over four months of madness, mercifully halted by the military, I would have preferred a more democratic means of change, just as JC Wilcox is always espousing.
Happy Alien
Bangkok
