A recent proposal by Defense Minister Suthin Klangsaeng to amend the Defense Act and enable the sitting Prime Minister, with the consent of the Cabinet, to suspend any generals believed to be attempting to mount a military coup, is a reminder that the specter of another military is not distant but rather a real concern.
Such a proposal is thoughtful of Defense Minister Suthin, who is a civilian and a senior member of the ruling Pheu Thai Party. It alone will have little or no effect in preventing future military coups, however. This is because by the time a coup is in the making, the coup makers are probably in possession of obedient armed troops willing to go against the constitution.
The tragedy of Thailand, which experience an average of one military coup every seven years or so since the 1932 revolt which ended absolute monarchy, is that civilian supremacy over the military remains elusive chiefly because so many groups and sectors in Thai society are too willing to sing along with the new tune of the coup makers.
Here are the major groups and sectors too willing to yield to rogue generals.
The Public
The last coup in 2014 saw only a few thousand protesters on the streets of Bangkok. Soon after dozens of key people were summoned for arbitrary detention in a program euphemistically called “attitude adjustment” (myself included). Most became quiet after the first attitude adjustment.
One prominent former detainee, Somsak Thepsuthin, then a senior Cabinet member in the Yingluck Administration, switched sides and joined the pro-junta Phalang Pracharath Party and became Justice Minister under the military regime.
He is now back with the Pheu Thai Party as Public Minister in the latest Cabinet reshuffle. If most people think it is not worth fighting against a coup attempt, or are willing to join them out of expediency, then there will likely be room for more coup attempts.
The Press
One of the outrageous and shameless things about the majority of the Thai press is that they are more than willing to sing along with any coup makers. The latest time, back in 2014, the majority of mainstream mass media’s public stance through its editorial piece was to wait and see since coup-maker Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha said it he would not be around for long and is doing it out of good intentions.
Prayut ended up staying in power for nine years and soon after the coup was “successful,” the then president of the country’s largest press club, Thai Journalists Association (TJA), Pradit Ruangdit (who worked for the Bangkok Post at the time), accepted the appointment by the military junta to become a member of the junta-appointed National Reform Council, which lends an air of legitimacy to the coup makers.
Basically, the majority of the Thai press maintain a spineless policy and will not take the required occupational hazard of trying to maintain a democratic system by condemning the rogue generals. Essentially their stance is “wait and see.”
The Courts
One wonders why neither the Constitutional Court nor the Court of Laws will not call out an illegitimate seizure of power when there is a coup. They too conveniently regard the “successful” coup makers, or the military junta, as legitimate. In return, the junta does not mess with the judiciary. They do not transfer or remove any judges. It is a quid pro quo, mutually beneficial relationship. One wonders when those teaching laws at universities and newly recruited junior judges would be taught not to ever accept the power of the usurpers.
The Military Itself
When will we see new soldiers taking an oath to defend the constitution, disobey, and oppose any future coup attempts? As long as Army Cadet School, Chulachomklao Military Academy, and the like, continue to recognize its alumni who were coup makers as outstanding products of its institutions, there will be no shortage of coup makers wannabes. We need a new curriculum that does not promote and praise coup makers but name and shame them.
The Palace
Last but not least, this writer is reminded of a failed coup in 1981 when then King Rama IX and the Queen publicly sided with the incumbent government of Gen. Prem Tinsulanonda and fled to Nakhon Ratchasima province to be under the protection of the government. The coup attempt lasted three days from April 1 to 3.
In the final analysis, it is apparent that Thailand remains vulnerable to future coups unless these factors are addressed.
