5th Anniversery of Thai Coup

Thaksin, the biggest looser in the Coup

On 19th September 2006, I was watching TV in our house in Thailand when I received an sms asking me about how the tanks on the street were affecting my life in Thailand?

I didn't have clue what was going on. The Thai TV channels were all playing patriotic music and showing pictures of the Royal Family. BBC Worldwide was broadcasting and telling me that there had been a military coup in Thailand whilst PM Shinawatra was speaking to the UN.

It all went off very peaceful thankfully and due to some incredibly biased reporting from Thai News agencies, Thailand was told it was for the best and the evil that was Thaksin was now over. The BBC was taken off air for several days and I had to get my info from western based news agencies.

For the first time I saw propoganda in action, The Thai's were being shown pictures of Thai soldiers being greeted as heroes and having flowers put in their guns, they didn't realise that several taken for granted freedom's were being lost, freedom of speech as it was, was now significantly worse. The constitution was torn up and replaced with one that would eventually lead to problems down the line.

It was an interesting time to live in Thailand and will add it to my list of life experiences, how no one was killed or injured still amazes me to this day!