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Well here I am, just a couple of hundred kilometres from where there are tanks parked in the streets of Bangkok – but am I worried? Hell no! Thailand has had plenty of coups before & so it is bound to be back to normal again quite soon -- normal by Thai standards, that is! Plus this was a very Thai coup – no bullets, no Tiananmen Square type massacre, but with citizens giving flowers to the soldiers on their streets. The former PM, Mr Thaksin, was so beloved that coup soldiers seem to have a great deal of support, at least in Bangkok!
The first I found out about this coup was on Tuesday evening, when a CNN alert flashed up on the desktop of my home computer, saying that tanks had been seen on the streets of Bangkok. Before I eventually went to bed, much later than originally planned, it became clear that an attempted coup was indeed taking place. PM Thaksin declared a state of emergency from his hotel in New York but most of Bangkok seemed to have removed him from their thoughts. I woke up at 5.55 on Wednesday as usual & on switching on the TV, discovered that the coup had indeed taken place, & the military were now in control of Thailand. The new boss is army chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the first ever Muslim C-in-C here. He & his colleagues declared Wednesday a national holiday & so I called my college to see if there were any classes. My reply came via Hat Yai, where the lady in question was visiting (who visits a place as dangerous as Hat Yai?), & confirmed that like every other school in Thailand, my college was closed today. What’s more, so was my son’s nursery.
However, the unexpected holiday given me by the generals in Bangkok isn’t going to last long. By all accounts, tomorrow seems likely to be ‘business as usual’ but at least I have missed my dumbest & least diligent class. The coup leaders have announced that they will appoint a civilian pm in 2 weeks & hold elections next year, but words don’t always translate into action.
Anyway, Hua Hin is calm & peaceful, the shops are open, the streets are busy & only some of the tourists are worried – needlessly, in my opinion. However, I wouldn’t recommend wearing a pro-Thaksin t-shirt just yet!
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Anything wrong? Hell no, it's just a coup . . .
Well here I am, just a couple of hundred kilometres from where there are tanks parked in the streets of Bangkok – but am I worried? Hell no! Thailand has had plenty of coups before & so it is bound to be back to normal again quite soon -- normal by Thai standards, that is! Plus this was a very Thai coup – no bullets, no Tiananmen Square type massacre, but with citizens giving flowers to the soldiers on their streets. The former PM, Mr Thaksin, was so beloved that coup soldiers seem to have a great deal of support, at least in Bangkok!
The first I found out about this coup was on Tuesday evening, when a CNN alert flashed up on the desktop of my home computer, saying that tanks had been seen on the streets of Bangkok. Before I eventually went to bed, much later than originally planned, it became clear that an attempted coup was indeed taking place. PM Thaksin declared a state of emergency from his hotel in New York but most of Bangkok seemed to have removed him from their thoughts. I woke up at 5.55 on Wednesday as usual & on switching on the TV, discovered that the coup had indeed taken place, & the military were now in control of Thailand. The new boss is army chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the first ever Muslim C-in-C here. He & his colleagues declared Wednesday a national holiday & so I called my college to see if there were any classes. My reply came via Hat Yai, where the lady in question was visiting (who visits a place as dangerous as Hat Yai?), & confirmed that like every other school in Thailand, my college was closed today. What’s more, so was my son’s nursery.
However, the unexpected holiday given me by the generals in Bangkok isn’t going to last long. By all accounts, tomorrow seems likely to be ‘business as usual’ but at least I have missed my dumbest & least diligent class. The coup leaders have announced that they will appoint a civilian pm in 2 weeks & hold elections next year, but words don’t always translate into action.
Anyway, Hua Hin is calm & peaceful, the shops are open, the streets are busy & only some of the tourists are worried – needlessly, in my opinion. However, I wouldn’t recommend wearing a pro-Thaksin t-shirt just yet!
Saturday, September 02, 2006
How to change provinces without moving.
Sorry for the long silence, folks, but I've been trying to break away from the keyboard a bit more!
So what's new? Well how about this? Here I am living on the northern edge of Thailand's northernmost southern province, but next year, I might be living in the heart of Thailand's newest province. Yes indeed. You see, the politicians are striving to come up with a suitable 80th birthday present for his majesty the King. Not feeling like touring the department stores, the Cabinet thought up the idea of establishing a new province out of areas around the royal summer palace here in Hua Hin. The new province will take in Cha-am (currently in Petchaburi province), together with Hua Hin, Pranburi and Sam Roi Yot, presently located in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province.
The reason for doing this, apart from His Majesty’s birthday, is said to be that establishing the new province would make it easier for the authorities to provide security for the Royal Family as well as ministers and senior officials who are granted audiences at the summer palace. Makes sense in a way – very untypical of Thai politicians!
So what’s the new province going to be called? What will replace Prachuap Khiri Khan on my headed notepaper? That hasn’t been decided. You see, appropriately enough for his birthday present, His Majesty will be asked to choose the name of the new province if and when it becomes reality.
This isn’t the only new province being considered by the boys in Bangkok. The other one will be much, much smaller, due to be created out of the area around the long awaited Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, which will open at the end of next month – or so we are told! However, if that province -- & the bigger one around here – takes as long to be realized as the new airport, then I won’t need to change my address till at least 2046! Time for another cup of tea, I think…
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