Two days after the coup
Dear All,
Thanks to every of you who were worried about me. Thanks for every e-mail that you guys dropped me. Really appreciate that.
As you all have already heard, a swift and peaceful coup took place on Tuesday night, Thailand time. No single violent incident. Instead of feeling scared, people came out on the streets, greeted the soldiers with flowers and took pictures with the tanks!!
As a journalist, this is an exciting time. On Wednesday, I was at the Army headquarters with at least 200 other journalists to cover the press briefing by the coup makers (CDRM). You can read my story here: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/09/21/headlines/headlines_30014216.php
More info can be found on www.nationmultimedia.com
Everything returns to normal today except that you see more soldiers on the streets. There are also soldiers guarding my office, or rather our TV station.
************************
What happened in Thailand might sound scary to you. The military coup is never a right thing. Political conflicts should be resolved in a democratic way, you may think.
To me, certainly the coup doesn't sound good, but when something is needed to be done to save this country, perhaps a coup is the best option we have. Thaksin has abused democracy and crippled every possible democratic channel that could get him out of the power. As I have told you, he (used to) own a TV channel, had strong influence over the election committee, constitutional court, army and police, not to mention the MPs and Senators. He was the one who left this country with not many choices.
By getting Thaksin out, we could have a new start. It's a dark spot in our history but in the long run it might be for the better. Some said this coup will drag the country backwards. I'd argue that letting Thaksin running this country will be even more disasterous.
However, we must not take the coup for granted. CDRM leader insisted that the group has no intention to run this country, and has promised to give us a civilian government in two-weeks time. My job as a a journalist and citizen of this country, is to keep a close look on these guys and make sure that they will return the people's power back.
Despite history says no military has ever returned power back to the people without bloodshed, I have 'faith' that these guys will be different. At least they have shown one good sign - a press conference!!!! Never seen such thing before!!
There are many people who disagree with me (including my Thai friends). So feel free to discuss with me :) I'll be more than happy to hear your comment.
All the best,
Yong/Sopaporn
PS. My e-mail is sopapornkurz@gmail.com. For MSN Messenger, please add me by sopaporns@hotmail.com
Thanks to every of you who were worried about me. Thanks for every e-mail that you guys dropped me. Really appreciate that.
As you all have already heard, a swift and peaceful coup took place on Tuesday night, Thailand time. No single violent incident. Instead of feeling scared, people came out on the streets, greeted the soldiers with flowers and took pictures with the tanks!!
As a journalist, this is an exciting time. On Wednesday, I was at the Army headquarters with at least 200 other journalists to cover the press briefing by the coup makers (CDRM). You can read my story here: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2006/09/21/headlines/headlines_30014216.php
More info can be found on www.nationmultimedia.com
Everything returns to normal today except that you see more soldiers on the streets. There are also soldiers guarding my office, or rather our TV station.
************************
What happened in Thailand might sound scary to you. The military coup is never a right thing. Political conflicts should be resolved in a democratic way, you may think.
To me, certainly the coup doesn't sound good, but when something is needed to be done to save this country, perhaps a coup is the best option we have. Thaksin has abused democracy and crippled every possible democratic channel that could get him out of the power. As I have told you, he (used to) own a TV channel, had strong influence over the election committee, constitutional court, army and police, not to mention the MPs and Senators. He was the one who left this country with not many choices.
By getting Thaksin out, we could have a new start. It's a dark spot in our history but in the long run it might be for the better. Some said this coup will drag the country backwards. I'd argue that letting Thaksin running this country will be even more disasterous.
However, we must not take the coup for granted. CDRM leader insisted that the group has no intention to run this country, and has promised to give us a civilian government in two-weeks time. My job as a a journalist and citizen of this country, is to keep a close look on these guys and make sure that they will return the people's power back.
Despite history says no military has ever returned power back to the people without bloodshed, I have 'faith' that these guys will be different. At least they have shown one good sign - a press conference!!!! Never seen such thing before!!
There are many people who disagree with me (including my Thai friends). So feel free to discuss with me :) I'll be more than happy to hear your comment.
All the best,
Yong/Sopaporn
PS. My e-mail is sopapornkurz@gmail.com. For MSN Messenger, please add me by sopaporns@hotmail.com
posted by Sopaporn at 5:47 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Yong
Good to hear that you're well and still able to work. I think a lot of us might have assumed that there would be huge restrictions on the media following the coup. But a press conference does sound unusual!
From what I have heard on the BBC, there are many people in Thailand welcoming what has happened. However, in rural areas, Thaksin still seems to have support. I have read other commentators who also believe that a military coup against a democratically elected ruler can't be justified. So it's interesting to hear your views, and that there is a debate going on.
Keep us informed of what's going on...Szonja and Zsombor can hopefully let us know of the situation in Hungary too.
Take care
Chris
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