Coup d’Etat

After starting to settle into my room on the weekend, sure enough there had to be a bit of excitement. And so there was - the Thai military kicked out the Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on my 6th day in Bangkok. Here is how I saw the coup: After getting my computer on Monday, I decided to spend Tuesday installing software. However I made a mistake installing Linux and could no longer access Windows. (See description of my PC for more details). So I spent all of Tuesday trying to fix my computer, i.e. had no Internet or TV access (my computer is also my TV). About 6pm I decided to go buy some software at Zeer Rangsit to see if it would fix my problem. Zeer is a local IT Mall about 10 minutes north of Don Muang Airport (and 30 minutes south of Thammasat) and since it is colocated with Asia Airport Hotel I know my way around quite well. So I catch a bus to Zeer, buy some software (Recommended Retail Price $AU1000; Thai price $AU15) and make my way back to campus about 7:30 or 8pm. The only thing unusual I noticed was on the footbridge I cross to get to the other side of the road, there were a couple of guards or police officers sitting around. Tuesday night I still could not fix my computer (extremely frustrated at this point), so head back to Zeer Rangsit at about 10:30am this morning to buy more software (another copy of Windows XP - I thought the first one I bought was a dud). The first thing I noticed was a bus crashed into a petrol tanker on the expressway. Up until then I hadn't seen many accidents - which was strange given the large number of vehicles swerving between each other at high speeds. We slowed down to get past the wreckage - luckily it didn't look too bad and maybe there were no casualties. For info, the road from Thammasat to Zeer Rangsit is Paholyoltin Rd, a major highway entering the north of Bangkok. There is usally about 2 or 3 lanes on the side service road, and 3 or 4 lanes on the highway. The Don Muang Tollway also runs above the road at some points - this is another 6-8 lanes. At some points maybe 20 lanes of traffic. Still on the bus into Zeer Rangsit, I had noticed a couple of 4WDs carrying army troops. Nothing unusual. Then we slow down again and there are more army guys on the side of the road, and then a tank facing north. And then another 10 tanks all facing the same way. I also saw someone with a video camera filming some of the army. There were a lot more army guys along the road and at Zeer Rangist a couple of truck loads, including a dozen or so on the footbridge. My thought was that it was some sort of ceremony (or maybe movement of officials, e.g. the King, but I doubt they would need 10 tanks for this), because everyone looked quite relaxed. All the soldiers had yellow ribbons tied to their guns - I thought maybe this meant they were using dummy bullets. Anyway I went about my normal business, bought some pirated software and headed back to my room. I was regretting the fact I didn't have my camera, because would have been good to take some photos of the tanks and maybe a few poses with the army. It was not until this afternoon (I still had no TV or Internet) that someone said what was going on. The military had ousted the Prime Minister while he was overseas, and the country was now ruled by the army. Maybe it was lucky I didn't have my camera. Now my computer is working, so it is time to catch up on some news. Thats if its not censored on TV and the Internet ...

Created on Wed, 20 Sep 2006, 10:28pm

Last changed on Thu, 23 Nov 2006, 11:34pm