BANGKOK
— Thailand’s new military leader said Monday that the junta would hold
power “indefinitely,” and warned citizens not to instigate chaos or
criticize his rule.
“It’s no use,” Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha said in a testy news conference that ended with him departing the stage mid-question.
Four days after his military seized power in
a bloodless coup, Prayuth received his most important mark of
legitimacy, an endorsement from Thailand’s beloved but ailing
86-year-old king.
No member of the opaque monarchy has spoken publicly about the coup, and
King Bhumibol Adulyadej did not appear at Monday’s ceremony. Still, the
stamp of approval carries broad implications in a country where the
king has ruled for more nearly seven decades and where second-guessing
his decisions amount to treason.
In his first days in power, Prayuth has proved both repressive and
swift, suspending the constitution, eliminating the senate, installing a
curfew and detaining more than 200 political leaders, academics and
journalists. The series of moves has drawn criticism from foreign
governments and further subverted what was already a weak democracy.
Prayuth said Monday that he intended to rebuild a democratic system, but
the timetable would “depend on the situation.” He added the military
has “full control” over the government and would establish an agency to
oversee reforms.
Asked when elections might take place, he said, “It depends on the situation.” He then abruptly ended the news conference.
Prayuth grabbed power at a delicate time, with the country politically
divided and many fearful of escalating violence. A majority in the
Thailand’s north still supports the ousted government, which had been
led for most of the past three years by prime minister Yingluck
Shinawatra. Her older brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, lives in self-imposed exile in Dubai, but still acts as the patriarch for Thailand’s largest political party.
There’s only one figure in Thailand who trumps Thaksin: the king. Though
he’s rarely seen in public now, King Bhumibol has the status here of a
semi-deity, his gold-framed picture placed in front of buildings and in
restaurants, his good deeds taking the form of tall tales. The king is
also protected by harsh lese majesty laws, which ban any form of
criticism. The junta has said that lese majesty cases will be heard in a
military, rather than criminal, court.
Since the coup, there have been daily protests of several hundred — a
violation of martial law that prohibits gatherings of more than five.
The protests are only loosely organized, but Prayuth on Monday issued a
harsh warning, saying the military would use force if necessary. Hours
later, as protesters finished work and gathered at Victory Monument — a
landmark in downtown Bangkok — there were no clashes, but troops with
loudspeakers berated the citizens as foreigner-sympathizers. Within two
hours, the protestors went home.
“The danger is if somebody wants to be the provocateur, you could have a
chain reaction,” said Gothom Arya, a lecturer at the Institute of Human
Rights and Peace Studies at Mahidol University. “One small incident can
degenerate the whole situation.”
In the months before the coup, Bangkok was gripped by anti-government
protests, led by Suthep Thaugsuban, a politician-turned-agitator who
lambasted Thaksin for what he called runaway corruption. Both Suthep and
Yingluck were among the scores detained last week, but both were
released by the military on Monday, according to the Associated Press.
Suthep still faces insurrection charges for his role in the protests.
Voravit Chansiri contributed to this report.
