What does martial law mean for Thailand?

[MyFriend You]

Oh Boy, Thailand knows how to scare away the Tourists.

Not me. got my tickets will be back next Saturday morning.........

[KamalaRider]

How convenient....This is a not a coup...which means...They are in it for a long haul....When they explicitly say, its not a coup, many will let the guard down and then they will slowly creep in taking our freedoms away....It would have been better for freedom if they just did a coup and said it so...

This is keeping everyone in the middle...which is the most dangerous for freedom...In couple of months....they will slowly come after everyone...saying this is not a coup...We need to check you to maintain "law and order"...."peace & security" of the country...

Expect to be strip searched in coming months with the words...This is not a coup...but we need to search you to maintain law and order

You clearly don't know what coup means.

[starchild5]

How convenient....This is a not a coup...which means...They are in it for a long haul....When they explicitly say, its not a coup, many will let the guard down and then they will slowly creep in taking our freedoms away....It would have been better for freedom if they just did a coup and said it so...

This is keeping everyone in the middle...which is the most dangerous for freedom...In couple of months....they will slowly come after everyone...saying this is not a coup...We need to check you to maintain "law and order"...."peace & security" of the country...

Expect to be strip searched in coming months with the words...This is not a coup...but we need to search you to maintain law and order

You clearly don't know what coup means.

That's what she said .. and then I told her..She can't even pronounce Acting Prime Minister Niwattumron Boonsongpaisan name....can you ??

Edited May 20, 2014 by starchild5

[KamalaRider]

When you have soldiers on the streets of Bangkok armed and with checkpoints you can call it what you want but at the end of the day the Military are now in control of the Country as for travellers most insurance companies will not cover a person who is visiting a country that is under the control of the military

Not true,it`s not a coup and any serious travel insurance is still valid.

It probably will be but read the fine prints, they could deny anyone claiming their travel insurance right now if they would like to.

[Publicus]

The reds were getting ready to mobilize, with armed reds coming to town. We all know what happens when the reds run amok. So the army acted in a way to cut off the violence that was inevitable.

The ball is now in Thaksin's court. Will he continue with the mobilize order, or realize he has, once again, been out maneuvered.

Personally, I am glad the army acted preemptively. Now let's get things sorted out and back on track... all under military supervision, of course.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Martial law was imposed because Suthep and his fascist PDRC and thugs were in process of assaulting Cabinet ministers and radically intensifying their street insurrection and anarchy against the legitimate government of Thailand. And because of the expected and appropriate reaction of the UDD and reds in general, not to mention the increased level of great alarm among the population in general at all recent accelerated developments.

Nothing to do with caches of assault rifles being discovered then?

Important when and where some caches were discovered yes. A or the decisive factor, no, certainly not Everyone knew what both the reds and the PDRC had doing inside metro Bangkok all of this year to date.

Decisive is that everyone and his mother in law knew what was developing the past 7 or 10 daze / days, what was coming. The reds and the insurrectionists were going to meet in the middle but not to do any negotiating, more like Gettysburg or Marston Moor.

The military brass hats stepped in and successfully told everyone to freeze in place or else, as the brass hats knew they could do and that they knew they would do.

No coup btw also keeps the watermelon Army from splitting in to two chunks. Watermelon soldiers and their commanders also act as a check on the brass hats now sitting at the table in council.

[KamalaRider]

I am very concerned to see that some Thai soldiers were seen wearing yellow ribbons on Australian TV , I am totally impartial , but this might be interpreted as a coup and set off a spiral of events that no one wants - did anyone else notice and what is the general reaction to this ?

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 2 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Yellow is the Royal colours, I'm sure General Prayuth would take a very dim view of his troops if they started aligning themselves with a particular movement.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Yellow have gone over to pink the last 7-8 years now.

[Publicus]

Oh Boy, Thailand knows how to scare away the Tourists.

Thailand finally found a way to shut up Suthep who for the first time is speechless.

It's as if somebody slipped Suthep some vanishing cream.

Deserves a medal for doing so.

[englishoak]

There is a decidedly bigger interest in this coup/non coup than previously, a lot more info on previous coups on international press, all of which are tabling 11 successful coups since 1932 etc etc

In other words the world press in general is being very sceptical of this not being one. They also wont be fooled if it turns out to be combined military/judicial coup as being anything else.

Pressure is certainly on the claim of there being no coup, it would be impossible to claim there wasnt if the senate take matters into their own hands and there is no election and an appointed gov as before.

What cannot continue simply will not.... it can probably get away with it this time but unlikely to without further unrest and very unlikely again in the future, whatever the reforms there will still be tens of millions rural with a vote for who looks after them.

To date that has never been the dems and it is hard to see how things will not revert to as before the moment an election is allowed, regardless of reform.

And therein is the problem with many of those arguing here - they decide that reforms are simply a way to get power to shift between pre-existing parties. That is not reforms. Reforms will not make a difference to who can be legally voted into office (outside of limit the illegal ways of doing so) - they will limit how the canvassing can be done, how the election must be handled and how the elected government must behave once elected. If the reforms are good, then it should be fine whoever gets in - because they will not be able to run amok like previous governments have been able to. It should also allow for real debate as canvassers would be able to canvass across the whole country and not in their own enclaves (preaching to the converted).

This inability to understand this, and some is certainly intentional, is what keeps the debate going - in truth, everyone should want reforms from either side - the Reds should want a stop to what it classes as judicial coup and the ability of the opposition to boycott elections ; the Dems should want to be able to get their message across the whole country and limit the power of the elected party when in opposition and not have their constituencies shat on by the government; the smaller parties should like it because it ousts those other small parties that are just there for the beer and trough slop, and water down their chances of seats. The only reason to not want reforms is that the reforms would take away troughing privileges, corruption, nepotism and power grabs.

My dear chap do you honestly truly think that any reforms here will be anything but a: nothing but token and flawed. b: ignored anyway c: effective or far reaching enough to the basics of Thai society ?

If they dont fix the basics ie education quality, critical thinking, upholding laws regardless of wealth or contacts for those who do wrong reforms wont really mean a thing.

Id love to say its workable here but from past experience and an awful long time seeing the total disregard of laws rights or even morals here im very doubtful of any marked change or effectiveness of any supposed reforms.

Im sure they will do all the political stuff and posturing about reforms but i doubt very much there will be any reform of societies main building blocks and that is education respect of the rule of law and effective policing and unbiased justice in the courts no matter how high or low the person...

Reforms politically will be pointless if there are no social reforms ... the political issue is directly related to the morals and culture, if they dont address both in reforms the other will fail anyway and ive seen no one talking about the need to reform the building blocks of a stable society Just my opinion

Edited May 20, 2014 by englishoak

[Publicus]

The military hasn't any stake or interest in "reforms."

To begin a process of reforms now would detain the military as rulers for longer than they would like or that would be internationally tolerable. So-called "reforms" just are not central to the military's self-assigned role and do not fit in the military's narrative of the present, which is to restore peace and order, and to get back to the barracks asap.

The military ruling council needs to facilitate an election, oversee its security and success, then go home. In its heart the military would like to stay indefinitely until and through what we know will happen. However, the brass hats know this would be impossible, such an indefinite stay. Dead fish and all that.

Any shanenigns by the senate and Suthep would send them all packing. The government is neither trembling with fear not is it hopping up and down shouting. It's taking a careful assessment to include talking with a lot of different sources and other insiders.

[awayego]

Q. What does martial law mean for Thailand?

A. It means just another day in paradise!!

LOL. The first thing I checked when I woke up and read the news was the exchange rate.

This type of political turmoil has been going on for many decades. It doesn't serve any purpose stressing out over it too much.

As long as the military, who are supposed to be controlled by the government, make the rules, democracy can't exist. Most of us knew this when we first arrived. All we can do is sit back and watch the show and hope we don't get hit by stray bullets.

Agreed!

Rule number one - don't panic!

[lucjoker]

As long as the banks are open ,and the atm working........no pombem for us .

So better take some cash out when you still can .

You cant do a run to Cambodja without money,can you?

Better be "prepared"(full diesel tank, a few waterpacks,bottle of scotch for disinfecting my throat ,....)

If angry thais are yelling in front of your door ,....well then it is a little late,isn't it?

No need to be scared ,if prepared.

[godden]

Will be interesting to see what spin TAT put on this if any.

[Strangebrew]

Where's the coup Nazi? did he fly the coup? No coup for you.

[chotthee]

Just watched the evening news in Australia. They are calling it a coup and telling Australians to stay away.

Australian Farang don't understand Thai.

Even CNN say it is NOT a coup.

[Fat Haggis]

The reds were getting ready to mobilize, with armed reds coming to town. We all know what happens when the reds run amok. So the army acted in a way to cut off the violence that was inevitable.

The ball is now in Thaksin's court. Will he continue with the mobilize order, or realize he has, once again, been out maneuvered.

Personally, I am glad the army acted preemptively. Now let's get things sorted out and back on track... all under military supervision, of course.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Martial law was imposed because Suthep and his fascist PDRC and thugs were in process of assaulting Cabinet ministers and radically intensifying their street insurrection and anarchy against the legitimate government of Thailand. And because of the expected and appropriate reaction of the UDD and reds in general, not to mention the increased level of great alarm among the population in general at all recent accelerated developments.

Nothing to do with caches of assault rifles being discovered then?

2 M16's in a car hardly constitutes a cache of weapons, I'm willing to bet my left nut that there's a damn sight more than 2 illegally held assault rifles in the hands of the PDRC hired "guards"

If Prayuth is serious about averting bloodshed, then his troops need to have access to BOTH sides and have an amnesty to hand over any weapon held illegally , bearing in mind, it is a criminal offence to carry a weapon in a public place in Thailand.

So please stop trying to make this a one sided argument over weapons, BOTH sides have them, BOTH sides have used them, BOTH sides need their nuts kicked up their backs and the extremist element within removed!!!

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

[Publicus]

The reds were getting ready to mobilize, with armed reds coming to town. We all know what happens when the reds run amok. So the army acted in a way to cut off the violence that was inevitable.

The ball is now in Thaksin's court. Will he continue with the mobilize order, or realize he has, once again, been out maneuvered.

Personally, I am glad the army acted preemptively. Now let's get things sorted out and back on track... all under military supervision, of course.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Martial law was imposed because Suthep and his fascist PDRC and thugs were in process of assaulting Cabinet ministers and radically intensifying their street insurrection and anarchy against the legitimate government of Thailand. And because of the expected and appropriate reaction of the UDD and reds in general, not to mention the increased level of great alarm among the population in general at all recent accelerated developments.

Nothing to do with caches of assault rifles being discovered then?

2 M16's in a car hardly constitutes a cache of weapons, I'm willing to bet my left nut that there's a damn sight more than 2 illegally held assault rifles in the hands of the PDRC hired "guards"

If Prayuth is serious about averting bloodshed, then his troops need to have access to BOTH sides and have an amnesty to hand over any weapon held illegally , bearing in mind, it is a criminal offence to carry a weapon in a public place in Thailand.

So please stop trying to make this a one sided argument over weapons, BOTH sides have them, BOTH sides have used them, BOTH sides need their nuts kicked up their backs and the extremist element within removed!!!

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

Indeed, the new PDRC propaganda line in response to this new development is that the military was forced to act by the violence-crazed reds and their massive arsenal of weapons, when the clear fact is to the contrary, i.e., the military acted at this time because of the precipitous campaign of Suthep and Surachai to act in concert in the streets and in the senate to drive the government from office by appointing a "neutral" PM and Cabinet. That's what would have caused the UDD and the reds in general to respond by the only means they have when the establishment uses its laws and institutions to force its will on the country as a whole.

The fact is that Surachai had boldly been making statements the past two weeks that "sometimes" the establishment has to act outside of the laws and the constitution to assert its control over the government and the country. The reds were rightfully provoked by this and the general population saw that the level of antagonism between the PDRC and the UDD had gone through a threshold to a new dimension of 'you do that and we'll do this' in response.

So the military acted to freeze everyone in place, which is what it has in fact done.

Where this goes from here is anyone's guess as each side will read its own interpretations into the present situation (including myself). But no one really knows where this might go. The one clear and obvious thing is that each side has been shut down and that the senate foul forty and Suthep with the PDRC are ticked off but neutered for the time being.

[DirtFarmer]

Very gutsy and apropos op-ed in the Post today from Songkran Grachangnetara who makes some very salient points...Kudos to the editors for allowing it to fly... good to see this perspective . Sincerely hope the General will have positive outcomes..

[Morch]

Personally, I have no inside knowledge as to why the Army chose to act when it did.

I believe this is true for almost all of the posters on TVF, not saying all on the off-chance that the general, or someone close enough

is a member.

Most of the people claiming knowledge (without even bothering to qualify their posts) do is just a continuation of their earlier agenda.

If they favor the PDRC, then the Army's action is either benign and supports Suthep & Co., and supposedly brought about by the

discovery of weapon stocks in red-shirt possession, and the latest attack on the PDRC.

The trouble with this is that both sides got stocks of weapons, and that a few found in a politician's car aren't going to make a difference.

Doubtful that either side got a real depot like storage waiting to be found. The latest attack on PDRC was unfortunate for the victims, but

the Army did not act after worse attacks, which were more outrageous. No special reason to believe this was the straw that broke the camel's

back.

Posters supportive of the government claim the Army acted in order to counter planned PDRC moves, in order to avoid conflagration.

Again, the Army didn't stop the PDRC from doing exactly the same thing earlier on, did not react when Suthep said all sort of things.

No one takes his deadlines seriously, and most people do not put too much stock in his fiery speeches. I don't know that the Army takes

him more literally than others, I would think not. As for acting in order to avoid bloodshed - may I remind that it was CAPO which made public

plans its plans to conduct a large scale operation in the middle of the capital? If carried on, this would probably not be a good thing in terms

of casualties.

The common denominator here is spewing of opinions in guise of knowledge.

As they say in the Game of Thrones: "You know nothing".

[wolf5370]

There is a decidedly bigger interest in this coup/non coup than previously, a lot more info on previous coups on international press, all of which are tabling 11 successful coups since 1932 etc etc

In other words the world press in general is being very sceptical of this not being one. They also wont be fooled if it turns out to be combined military/judicial coup as being anything else.

Pressure is certainly on the claim of there being no coup, it would be impossible to claim there wasnt if the senate take matters into their own hands and there is no election and an appointed gov as before.

What cannot continue simply will not.... it can probably get away with it this time but unlikely to without further unrest and very unlikely again in the future, whatever the reforms there will still be tens of millions rural with a vote for who looks after them.

To date that has never been the dems and it is hard to see how things will not revert to as before the moment an election is allowed, regardless of reform.

And therein is the problem with many of those arguing here - they decide that reforms are simply a way to get power to shift between pre-existing parties. That is not reforms. Reforms will not make a difference to who can be legally voted into office (outside of limit the illegal ways of doing so) - they will limit how the canvassing can be done, how the election must be handled and how the elected government must behave once elected. If the reforms are good, then it should be fine whoever gets in - because they will not be able to run amok like previous governments have been able to. It should also allow for real debate as canvassers would be able to canvass across the whole country and not in their own enclaves (preaching to the converted).

This inability to understand this, and some is certainly intentional, is what keeps the debate going - in truth, everyone should want reforms from either side - the Reds should want a stop to what it classes as judicial coup and the ability of the opposition to boycott elections ; the Dems should want to be able to get their message across the whole country and limit the power of the elected party when in opposition and not have their constituencies shat on by the government; the smaller parties should like it because it ousts those other small parties that are just there for the beer and trough slop, and water down their chances of seats. The only reason to not want reforms is that the reforms would take away troughing privileges, corruption, nepotism and power grabs.

My dear chap do you honestly truly think that any reforms here will be anything but a: nothing but token and flawed. b: ignored anyway c: effective or far reaching enough to the basics of Thai society ?

If they dont fix the basics ie education quality, critical thinking, upholding laws regardless of wealth or contacts for those who do wrong reforms wont really mean a thing.

Id love to say its workable here but from past experience and an awful long time seeing the total disregard of laws rights or even morals here im very doubtful of any marked change or effectiveness of any supposed reforms.

Im sure they will do all the political stuff and posturing about reforms but i doubt very much there will be any reform of societies main building blocks and that is education respect of the rule of law and effective policing and unbiased justice in the courts no matter how high or low the person...

Reforms politically will be pointless if there are no social reforms ... the political issue is directly related to the morals and culture, if they dont address both in reforms the other will fail anyway and ive seen no one talking about the need to reform the building blocks of a stable society Just my opinion

Actually I completely agree with you. However, it has to start somewhere - social reforms like education etc will not happen unless there is either cause (like in the west where production gave way to services, and thus an educated middle class became more important than multitudes of working class barely educated folk); or there is a change at the top, with the policy makers, to put integrity and social need before protectionism of their own little thiefdoms and remove the fear that an educated populous will see through their corruption, lies and schemes (and I am being cross-partisan here not just the present occupants). The latter is a pipe dream right now of course, but softly, softly catch a monkey and all that - first step is to limit the scale of corruption and make it easier for pressure groups to get heard and promises to be kept. That way promises as to education etc will be more than lip service (tablets for one year - instead of curriculum reforms, improved teaching methods, improved invigilation, national marking boards, school league tables, funds from private education by way of taxes to go directly to state education, etc) - and as you rightly infer, education will clean house on it own, by putting pressure of the parties to give real election promises and turn them into policies.

Sitting back and saying, "It won't work!" does nothing to fix anything. It needs to start somewhere, grow traction - let the dross fall away (including those with their own agendas for change) as momentum takes over and people get behind it. It rarely is a nice person with good ideas that and no personal agenda that makes changes happen - they are so rare we can all name but a few through history - like Ghandi (not even Mandala as one cannot say the ANC were exactly well behaved!)

[Fookhaht]

Well, in answer to the thread title, and, in light of the last hour, we now know it basically means "Get ready for the Full Meal Deal".

Edited May 22, 2014 by Fookhaht

[wolf5370]

The reds were getting ready to mobilize, with armed reds coming to town. We all know what happens when the reds run amok. So the army acted in a way to cut off the violence that was inevitable.

The ball is now in Thaksin's court. Will he continue with the mobilize order, or realize he has, once again, been out maneuvered.

Personally, I am glad the army acted preemptively. Now let's get things sorted out and back on track... all under military supervision, of course.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Martial law was imposed because Suthep and his fascist PDRC and thugs were in process of assaulting Cabinet ministers and radically intensifying their street insurrection and anarchy against the legitimate government of Thailand. And because of the expected and appropriate reaction of the UDD and reds in general, not to mention the increased level of great alarm among the population in general at all recent accelerated developments.

Nothing to do with caches of assault rifles being discovered then?

2 M16's in a car hardly constitutes a cache of weapons, I'm willing to bet my left nut that there's a damn sight more than 2 illegally held assault rifles in the hands of the PDRC hired "guards"

If Prayuth is serious about averting bloodshed, then his troops need to have access to BOTH sides and have an amnesty to hand over any weapon held illegally , bearing in mind, it is a criminal offence to carry a weapon in a public place in Thailand.

So please stop trying to make this a one sided argument over weapons, BOTH sides have them, BOTH sides have used them, BOTH sides need their nuts kicked up their backs and the extremist element within removed!!!

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand

I wasn't trying to make it anything - I was simply suggesting that the General's move was not merely because the "PDRC were in the process of assaulting Cabinet ministers" - this is borne out by the fact that the first thing he did was to order raids on the minister's homes himself! Nor that he was worried specifically of ant-government action. That he was in fact worried of the escalation on both sides (I did not assume to whom the weapons belonged you'll notice) - and the threats and evidence of serious weaponry being deployed . It seems like it is you and Publicus that is "trying to make this a one sided argument", not I. Like many here, I don't want armed idiots on the streets here, where my family and I live, regardless of what shirts they wear - it's madness, and I am sure you personally, more so than most here, are fully aware of how much damage is caused when untrained civilians pick up military grade weapons to satiate their twisted bent on politics and factional loyalty.

[wolf5370]

DOUBLE POST REMOVED

Edited May 22, 2014 by wolf5370

[OnTheRun]

Is martial law the reason You Porn is now blocked for Thai IP addresses? A shocking infringement on human rights if so....

Still works for me, thank goodness.

You live in Thailand and need porn.

Yes

[DGIE]

I don't believe it's a coup. Prayuth has been very reluctant to go this far and shows no inclination of wanting to take full control. It's pretty measured and while not welcomed, at least it gives some security to the situation and should enable the govt to get through to an election.

maybe you now believed that it is a coup