Martial Law per CNN

[Traminer]

Life seems to be going on as usual in Thailand. There has been little or no violence following the coup though things may change if the pro-Thaksin military forces put up a fight.

In the meantime, Thaksin is holed up at the Grand Hyatt in NYC and there are no reports of him returning to Thailand anytime soon.

All of the dive sites in the south of Thailand is far removed from the coup in Bangkok and should hopefully be fine. It should be interesting to see how a Muslim commander in chief will run things under martial law.

I think the best thing to do is go hide out in the nice reefs in Chumphon or Racha Yai today..

 

[Kim]

...called into question Kim's suggestion that the military was supporting the people by undoing the election result.

Well, I'm not saying that I'm an expert in Thai politics but I am aware of the following.
There WAS an election in the spring this year, boycotted by all the opposition parties - that election was invalidated due to all kinds of problems the electoral commission had with it. A re-run of that election was/is due in October. A couple of weeks ago Thaksin claimed that there was an assassination attempt on his life. Popular opinion is that this was something he set-up himself to gain sympathy votes (no idea if that's true or false...) There have been increasingly bigger demonstrations building up over the last few weeks anti-Thaksin...calling for his resignation and that he be charged with an array of corruption charges. The military haven't 'undone' anything. Last night Thaksin attempted to sack the head of the Armed forces. The result was the forces took over the Parliament building. There have been military statements that they have no wish to hold on to power.

In any event, and the main point of my first post, I personally don't think that this will affect foreigners at all - except maybe the bars and clubs etc close a little early for a few nights....

 

[vladimir]

I pretty much agree with both your posts Kim

 

[stevenl]

Everything ok here, all boats went out this morning, if there were no internet I would not have noticed anything this morning (except that I could not watch the baseball because all we have on tv at the moment are a few Thai channels).

At the moment it seems to be localised in Bangkok.

yeah, it's a shame the army did this (in my opinion, of course). after 15 years of civilian government, the army should have stayed out of civilian issues and let the civilian processes address the problems

basically, the army just invalidated a popular election. that's not good, in my book.

Me, living in Thailand, I think a good thing just happened. The PM was loathed by everybody with a bit of background, and his only support came from the rural areas, simply because votes were bought there.
This was the only option to restore things back to normal and get the PM out without any bloodshed.

I expect things to go back to normal very quickly, and in 2 months time we will have new elections. Just mr. Thaksin probably won't be on any list.

 

[MoonWrasse]

Meetings of more than 5 people have now been banned. I wonder if that includes dive trips

 

[stevenl]

I wonder if that includes dive trips

Well, who cares as long as there is no police/army around to arrest anybody? And no police or army visible here.

 

[Ringo]

Well everybody is enjoying the holiday here...no traffic on the roads.

 

[jonix]

The foreign media tends to get it's panties in a twist over Thailand.

I really wouldn't worry much about this. Unless you're Thaksin

much like in the philippines. where's vie & nagonoj? some insider info would surely be useful for those planning a trip there anytime soon.

 

[MoonWrasse]

much like in the philippines. where's vie & nagonoj? some insider info would surely be useful for those planning a trip there anytime soon.

I'd go. The coup was in the works for some time, it's more like coup lite than a real coup.

 

[jonix]

I'd go. The coup was in the works for some time, it's more like coup lite than a real coup.

i'd go as well. seems the political issues there are pretty much similar to the PI, all media hype.