Thailand’s “Smile Coup” – the movie- prologue

By Scott Rosenberg, special to M&C Oct 28, 2006, 9:47 GMT

Thailand\'s military coup leader, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin during a press conference at the Royal Thai Army headquarters, Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday 26 September 2006. Thailand\'s ruling military council on Tuesday said has completed a \'temporary constitution\' and would name of a new Prime Minister early next week. EPA/STR THAILAND OUT

Thought you had heard the last of the recent coup d’etat in Thailand?

Its back!

Now in the form of a book by the leader of the Coup, Army General Sonthi Boonyaratglin. 

Yup, the Coup leader, presently head of the Council for National Security has written a book (presently only in Thai language) explaining the details of the Coup and to “apologize” for his action’s.

"It's in my nature to apologize to people - my tennis partners, even my subordinates - for even tiny little things," Sonthi told Nation Multimedia Group editors October 24th.  Nation Group Multimedia publishes both English and Thai language newspapers and magazines and its headquarters was a major staging ground for the Army during the Coup.

General Sonthi (as he is called by the Thai’s) revealed that former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra knew of the Coup long before the September 19th event.

“There was a general mistrust between us,” Sonthi said.  “It started before the trip to Burma.”

On August 2, 2006 Thaksin and several government ministers and army officers including General Sonthi made an unscheduled trip to Pyinmana, Myanmar’s new administrative capital, to meet with Burma’s top leader Senior General Than Shwe.

The rushed nature of the visit, purportedly to discuss natural gas rights for Thai energy company PTT in the Bay of Bengal, caught everyone by surprise causing them to cancel meetings previous scheduled.

General Sonthi disclosed to the Nation editors that he ordered his men to sneak a gun into the prime ministers plane so, if the need arose, he could protect himself.

Asked what made him do that and what he thought Thaksin was plotting, Sonthi said: "I don't know. I was just being alert. On the plane, I sat near the entrance to the cockpit, where I could know quickly if something was about to happen. I had been told to wear my uniform but I wore a suit which better covered what I wanted to cover."

Sonthi did not elaborate on the real reason for Thaksin’s visit to Burma.  Many believe part of his private meeting with the Burmese leader was to consult with ET.

Wait, the best is yet to come.

E-Thi, is a renowned Burmese astrologer much sought after by the first couple of Burma's ruling junta, Senior Gen Than Shwe and his wife Kyaing Kyaing.  ET has also met with Thaksin on occasion both in Myanmar and on trips to Bangkok according to The Irrawaddy, an English language Burmese newspaper.

Even though ET is disabled and her speech is incomprehensible because of a speech impediment, her sister translates her prognostications.

ET is reported to have telepathic powers and the ability to foretell the future.

It is an open secret in Thailand that Thai politicians, especially Thaksin often used astrologers from Cambodia and Myanmar (including black magic) to explain events and look into the future.

One can only wonder if and what was discussed on that Wednesday afternoon.

But back to the Coup leader’s story……

General Sonthi suggests that Thaksin did not trust him and his army division - at one point earlier this year, when he was repositioning top commanders Thaksin asked Sonthi “Will you stage a coup?” to which Sonthi replied, “I will.”

Afterwards, the beleaguered prime minister sparked a public controversy by claiming an "influential figure beyond the scope of the Constitution" was plotting to overthrow him.

Thaksin further alienated himself from other top armed forces commanders by making additional highly controversial remarks about the military and their relationship to His Majesty the King of Thailand.

The coup d’etat itself was crafted by Sonthi with the assistance of seven other key officers. However, Sonthi claims he drafted most of the Coup announcements himself - “I prepared the drafts myself so that nobody else would know what we were up to.”

But according to Sonthi, only four top commanders knew the entire picture of the plan.

"Each of us took care of our own piece of the jigsaw, which fell into place nicely at the end," he said. One significant piece of the jigsaw was the role of the Special Forces from Lop Buri who provided the coup leaders with much-needed combat experience, loyalty and allegiance.

"Faith and trust among men at arms doesn't come easily. It goes back a long time," he said.

Actually the Coup was planned for September 20 when a major anti Thaksin rally was to take place. Sonthi maintained that Thaksin and his supporters had planned to create a violent situation which would allow the then prime minister to declare a state of emergency and take control, even though he was in the United States to speak before the United Nations.

Thaksin would have used the UN speech to rally world sentiment behind him and solidify his hold at home.

"The State of Emergency would have given the government a pretext to remove me because I wouldn't have obeyed any order to use force against Thai people," Sonthi said.

Instead, Sonthi ordered provincial troops to move into Bangkok at midnight on September 19 but by 8 pm, word was already on the street that a military coup was forthcoming.

"We couldn't cope with the news leaks, so I decided to move up the schedule," Sonthi said.

Sonthi was in touch with the national police to make sure major units stayed put and cooperated with the coup leaders.

Troops marched into Bangkok and the “Smile Coup” was under way.