A military coup is normally something to fear, a threat to democracy, a ruthless dictator taking charge, people losing humanitarian freedoms but what happens when it is a Thai military coup?
There is Thai food, there is Thai culture, there is Thai time, and there is a Thai military coup, all very unique, and all very much their own.
The evening of the coup I was at a rooftop bar, which is decorated with random objects that must of came from some senior's garage sale, with my friends when one of them received a call from home. It was around 11pm and the caller was quite frantic and wanted to know if everything was alright. Why wouldn't it be? We just had a yummy meal of somtam, laarp gai, and sticky rice and we were hanging out drinking Thai whiskey and soda. There is a 'coup d'etat!'
The other people at the bar, all Thai, didn't seem phased by the news. I went downstairs where there was a TV to see if it was on the news and of course, the TV was tuned to Fashion TV with beautiful skinny models prancing down the runway. Once I was able to change the channel and turn on BBC I saw ten minutes of footage of tanks and soldiers closing off the road about 10 minutes away from where we were. I rejoined my friends, the hip jazz continued to play and everyone at the bar continued to drink...
Next morning I awoke and the first thing I noticed was the quietness of the normally traffic-packed streets. The military declared a holiday! Those lucky kids, I might have had a few snow days but never a coup d'etat day. What does one do on a coup d'etat day?
You go out with your family and take pictures of the tanks. The soldiers were incredibly courteous and even allowed some of the kids to wear their helmets. The area which has the United Nations building, the Government House, The department office for the Army was blocked off to car traffic but not foot traffic. It was pretty surreal walking through the empty six lane street which is normally bumper to bumper with cars at all hours with nothing there but a few journalists, Thai families and tanks. But not any tanks, friendly tanks with yellow ribbons.
Today and yesterday I have been staring more than I normally do, trying to read people's faces, trying to see if I can read into their feelings about the coup. But I get nothing...I asked the taxi driver tonight what he thought about the coup but instead of answering me, he told me he was going to drive straight at the intersection. Very informative. But when we drove straight we passed the parliamentary house where there were two rows of three tanks each. And it was packed with people taking pictures at 8:30 pm tonight. Not only was it filled with people but it was filled with vendors selling dry squid, little meats on a stick and all the common stuff that you see at your typical county fair here. The taxi driver and I both shared a laugh and then some courteous young soldiers with yellow ribbons on their arms and yellow ribbons on their guns waved us by.
I don't mean to make it sound too light because there has been foreign investors pulling out, international organizations have been force to cut their funding because they won't support a military government, etc. which will all have backlashes on general Thais. Nonetheless, this is only my second military coup (one in the Gambia when I was three) but I think this one is particularly unique in its festive mood. I think this Coup D'Thai is more of celebration of the removal of Thaksin from office than an upsetting violation of democratic and human rights.
Let us hope the General Sondthi is more moral than Thaksin and sticks to his words that the military will be out of the government in two weeks.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Thursday, June 01, 2006
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