Saturday, September 23
Thailand
While Kirk and I were on our RTW, we spent a good bit of time in Thailand. Much in the North (up near Chaing Mai), but we also made several trips to Bangkok (we used it as a sort of base while we traveled around Southeast Asia) and one trip to KoLanta in the South. I've tried to keep up with current events in the various countries we visited by periodically reading the newspapers from each country.
I find the recent military coup (it happened on my birthday! ack!) in Thailand rather hard to grasp. There has always been some unrest in the South - it is mostly peopled with Muslims while the majority of the country elsewhere is Buddhist. But when the tsunami hit, attention was turned to rebuilding and, while the tensions never went away, they were at least sidelined for a while. But this coup is quite a different story.
The Thai papers were, of course, rather silent about the changeover. One radio station in the North was shut down after disseminating "inaccurate" information about the coup. In the days leading up to the coup, military leaders spent much time trying to quash rising unrest in the South (including bombings and arson). Now they are discussing the appointment of a new Prime Minister.
Thailand has, in recent years, made many advances. While some particularly odd things (at least things that I, as a US citizen, would never deem to be concerned about in the USA) have happened over the last several years (e.g., the "war on drugs" that had people being shot in the street by police if they tried to run from impending arrest, the treatment of some hilltribes as non-entities), in general, the country has become quite "Western". It certainly has moved from third world status into something more advanced. Does this coup signify a return to dark times? Only time can tell, but certainly anything that usurps the democratic process does not bode well.
I find the recent military coup (it happened on my birthday! ack!) in Thailand rather hard to grasp. There has always been some unrest in the South - it is mostly peopled with Muslims while the majority of the country elsewhere is Buddhist. But when the tsunami hit, attention was turned to rebuilding and, while the tensions never went away, they were at least sidelined for a while. But this coup is quite a different story.
The Thai papers were, of course, rather silent about the changeover. One radio station in the North was shut down after disseminating "inaccurate" information about the coup. In the days leading up to the coup, military leaders spent much time trying to quash rising unrest in the South (including bombings and arson). Now they are discussing the appointment of a new Prime Minister.
Thailand has, in recent years, made many advances. While some particularly odd things (at least things that I, as a US citizen, would never deem to be concerned about in the USA) have happened over the last several years (e.g., the "war on drugs" that had people being shot in the street by police if they tried to run from impending arrest, the treatment of some hilltribes as non-entities), in general, the country has become quite "Western". It certainly has moved from third world status into something more advanced. Does this coup signify a return to dark times? Only time can tell, but certainly anything that usurps the democratic process does not bode well.
