2008 Woodie Awards
Bloodless revolution
Thailand campus in Cha-am remains calm after military takeover
By: Andy Dierker and Stephanie Kiszczak
Issue date: 9/28/06 Section: News
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Upon her departure from a Sept. 22 visit to Bangkok, Kit Jenkins, director of Webster's Cha-am and Bangkok campuses, said she saw tanks leaving the capital.
Just days earlier, on Sept. 19, Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin and the Thai military took over the nation's capital, suspended the constitution and declared martial law. Sondhi and the military staged a coup, overthrowing the unpopular Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Jenkins said she and a team of five staff members were able to locate all students and staff in Thailand within a couple of days. Though a national holiday was declared and classes were cancelled for one day, the students are now back in school.
"Everything is still the same; we're just carrying on," Jenkins said. "You really could not tell the difference. People are walking around; people are shopping. There's nothing happening."
Students studying at the Cha-am campus agree, noting that people seem to be going on about their days.
"Things were quiet for a couple of days," Nisarat Singchawala, a junior psychology major, said in an e-mail. "That was due to the fact that people were still worried and shocked about the situation. Now, things are back to normal. People go out, shop and party."
While a sense of normalcy has returned, the Thai people continue to wait for word of a new prime minister. An interim prime minister appointed by Sondhi will serve for one year while the constitution is being revamped.
Supachai Panitchpakdi, former head of the World Trade Organization, was announced as an interim prime minister candidate. Supachai has experience with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and has held various positions in the Thai government since 1986.
Yupa Saisanan Na Ayudhya, adjunct faculty in the department of international languages & cultures at the Webster Groves campus, is originally from Thailand. While she lives and works in the United States, her immediate family still lives in Thailand. She believes Supachai is a good choice for interim prime minister.
"He's well respected in the political circle in Thailand," Yupa said, adding Supachai's party is democratic, unlike Thaksin's. "He has this international presence. He is not just successful as a politician in Thailand, but accepted in the world."
King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has served as Thailand's king for 60 years, is said to support Sondhi and the military's action against Thaksin.
"People just so respect the king here that if the king says it's a good idea, the people say OK," Jenkins said.
In addition to the king, many Thais seem to support the military coup, saying Thaksin was a corrupt leader, Yupa said.
"We are very tolerant, so we have given him chances, you know, to fix it," she said.
Yupa said Thaksin abused those chances. Thaksin, nearing the end of his second term as prime minister, said elections would be held for his position. Since months passed and nothing had been accomplished, the military took action, Yupa said.
"I'm glad that it happened," Yupa said. "I understand how every government is like this, (where parties) are only looking out for their own party's benefits, but I think (Thaksin) crossed the line."
Yupa said the driving force behind the military coup might have been the unrest and violence occurring daily in the south, along the Malaysian border. She said such problems have long been ignored.
"Every morning, there would be someone killed," Yupa said.
Yupa was a panelist in a discussion of the Thai coup Sept. 26 in the University Center Sunnen Lounge. Yupa was joined by Dan Hellinger, chairman of the history, politics and international relations department, and Keith Welsh from the center of interdisciplinary study.
Hellinger in particular had concerns about the Thai coup. He said the king's good reputation is well deserved, but that reliance on an unelected leader could set a bad example in the region.
"You can't deny it's a cult of personality," Hellinger said. "What happens when he's gone? I fear what is coming two or three years down the road."
Art Sandler, chairman for the center of interdisciplinary study, expressed similar doubts in a question to the panel.
"Shouldn't we hold the military to the same standard?" Sandler said. "Thaksin's reputation as a democrat is suspect - in the elections, there was no opposition, so he leveled the playing field. But the military drove their tanks onto the playing field."
Junior Wendy Weng, a psychology major at Webster's Cha-am campus, was born in China but grew up in Hungary. She feels Thailand would benefit from a change of government.
"I think that a new government can do a lot of good," Weng said in an e-mail. "But Thailand is in a vulnerable stage. If the wrong kind of government is put into power, then nothing will change, except for maybe how people will suffer."
Senior Cindy Lancaster, a photography and film studies major studying at the Cha-am campus, along with Singchawala, went to Bangkok Sept. 24. They said the vast majority of people appeared to support the coup.
"Bangkok is crawling with people who wish to get their picture taken with the tanks and soldiers," Lancaster said in an e-mail. "It was more like a fair than a coup. Balloons, refreshment, and little toys were being sold. It was really bizarre. I wasn't expecting the atmosphere to be as positive as it was."
Lancaster continued, "Bangkok after the coup was probably the safest spot in Thailand. Soldiers were ordered to smile to keep up the positive image of the military. Everyone was happy and having fun."
While no violence has stemmed from the coup as of now, Webster's Director of International Programs Grant Chapman said the university will adapt if the situation in Thailand changes.
"So far, there is a sense of normalcy there," Chapman said.
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