Military authority appoints advisory team
Six heavyweights will advise the military authority on security, economics and law, said an army source. Furthermore, coup leader Prayuth Chan-ocha announced today that a 'Reconciliation Center' is being set up in each of the four military regions to try to end political divisions.
The advisory team is led by former Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon. Economy is in the hands of MR Pridiyathorn Devakula, no stranger to regular readers of Thailandblog. He is a former Deputy Prime Minister and currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of Post Publishing Plc, the publisher of Bangkok Post.
Reconciliation Centers
The National Council for Peace and Order, the body that currently directs the country, directs the reconciliation campaign; the four army regions each form a support point in their own region.
Army spokesman Sirichan Ngathong: 'One of the tasks of the centers is to get people with different ideas to sit at the same table. For better understanding and to prevent divisive information from spreading.”
The army has therefore alerted local radio stations and shut down some, most of them from the UDD (red shirts). The last was Rak Chiang Mai 51 in Muang (Chiang Mai). Soldiers have searched their homes and seized equipment and documents.
Demonstration
Yesterday, protests against the coup were held at the Victory Monument. The demonstrators carried banners and shouted that they want new elections. The police and army kept an eye on things, but they took no action.
(Source: Website Bangkok Post, May 27, 2014)
You can't say that the army isn't trying to take the sting out of existing conflicts here and there on the red and yellow side as well as elsewhere. The reconciliation centers are a good initiative in that respect. It is good that the army command is making efforts to get opponents to talk to each other.
So far, the military can count on great acceptance. For many Thais, it was time to end the stalemate. The fact that the army had to do this is forgiven by the Thai. Rarely have I heard so little dissent. A big sigh of relief for many.
At the top, the army command firmly washes the ears of all kinds of authority from many sections of Thai society. It seems that anyone who carries the appearance of having wrongly benefited or not contributed to a solution, resp. the situation at the time is being held accountable. No section is spared. Not the businessmen, not the academics, not the politicians.
At the bottom, the army provides peace and removes the threat of violence between the various groups. It is very important that a great unpaid debt and promise is fulfilled, namely that towards the rice farmers. The army command has played a major trump card in this regard.
As far as I hear and see from and with the people in my neighborhood and surroundings, the measures of the army are experienced as desperately needed, and that this had to be done by means of a state of siege: that could not be otherwise, and the situation is accepted without a fight or punch. It does not appear that the opposite will take place if possible changes are initiated on the same footing. They have my blessing!
Prawit Wongsuwan and Anupong have just been the powerful figures behind Suthep and the anti-government protests. The yellows have only been arrested for the show that Prayuth puts on. Here's an article from Dec 13, 2013 where it was effectively predicted how the whole mess would end. Prawit and Anupong would persuade Prayuth to stage a coup as soon as Sutheps' demonstrations provoked violence, they have been waiting for it. These gentlemen are against Thaksin.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/13/us-thailand-protest-military-idUSBRE9BC0PB20131213?irpc=932
Two members of the advisory team, possibly the core of a new cabinet, General Prawit Wongsuwan and General Anupong Paochinda are ultra-royalists, also supported the 2006 coup and were seen as the main forces behind Suthep's movement. Prawit has never hidden his ambition to become prime minister. Two other members of the team, Somkid Jatusripitak and Wisanu Krue-ngaam were once members of Thaksin's team but later turned on him. MR Pridiyathorn Devakula is a fairly neutral technocrat. Absolutely not a neutral team at all. It has a distinctly conservative and anti-Thaksin character.
1. You must be blind if you don't see the army clamping down on both Suthep fans and Thaksin fans;
2. One of the biggest misconceptions is that ultra-royalism and Suthep fans are the same thing.
3. If these people can change from Thaksin fans to Suthep fans, could they also change to neutral persons?
All well and good, and perhaps with noble intentions, but sooner or later the Thai will have to go to the polls again. If no new political movements arise with a national reach, the choice will soon be limited to red or yellow. And then the whole game starts all over again. What is happening now is just to calm things down, that's all the army can do. A solution is no closer than before.
We are working on that. Not by the army but by Thai who feel responsible for the REAL progress of this country. One of the things that would help get these new parties into parliament is changing the electoral system where 375 of the members of parliament are elected at the local level. These members are not elected for their political ideas, but they must confess themselves to a political party. At this local level, processes such as patronage and bribery are easier to implement.
People talk about anti-Thaksin, but there is no more Thaksin government, little brother is in exile, and sister has had to resign, and there will probably be another attempt to put forward another person from the Shinawatra family, but I think there this time a stick is put in front. This family is a danger to the monarchy in Thailand, and is only out for self-enrichment and power. It is good that the army is now making a clean sweep in Thailand, from the weapon finds made in the redshirt camps you can see that it would not have been resolved peacefully.
The farmers finally have their hard-earned money, and now on to the elections, and see to it that the political reforms are implemented.
Hopefully, the new elections will bring economic and political reforms back to unity among the Thai people.
Chok Dee Thailand