nomad4ever

This interesting letter from Jacob Tan was published in Singapore’s Today Newspaper. It refers back to an article of Tham Chen Fye “Why this coup is different” (Sept 27):

While I agree with some points he raised indicating that this coup is distinctive from the other coups in Thailand’s history, I believe the dangers that this coup brings have been downplayed.

The recent coup undoes all the progress of democracy in the past 15 years. The resulting uncertainty will cause more instability – in the region as well as the country – as long as this issue remains unresolved.

While removing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from power might not have been a bad thing, the method used to do so might prove in time to be a hasty and poorly measured decision.

Previous coups have failed to install effective leadership but more often resulted in accession of “military-flavoured” prime ministers and ensuing corruption.

The country has seen the writing of 15 constitutions since the end of absolute monarchy. With the current one suspended and due to be re-written, there is little reason for optimism that the new constitution will bring much improvement. The list of reforms that the six-man military junta wants seems unlikely to be achieved by its rewriting.

Lastly, to cite an article in The Economist, the success of the bloodless coup in Thailand may embolden those in the Philippine army who continue to plot against their President.

Indonesia’s own military generals have been tamed in recent years and it would be a tragedy to see a throwback to the previous decades.

This spells uncertainty for our region and its young democracies.

What has been described as a “bloodless coup” by the media might prove otherwise and come back to haunt us in the near future.

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written by Chris