Yet Another Coup in Fiji
The island nation of Fiji suffered a major setback to democracy today, when for the fourth time in the past nineteen years a military coup has caused the downfall of its elected government.
Commodore Frank Bainimarama, the armed forces chief, announced in a nationally broadcast evening statement that, "As of 6 o'clock this evening, the military has taken over the government, has executive authority and the running of this country."
He said he had assumed some powers of the president and was using them to dismiss Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase, elected in May.
He named Dr. Jona Senilagakali, a military medic with no political experience, as caretaker prime minister and said a full interim government would be appointed next week to see the country through to elections that would restore democracy sometime in the future.
The move was denounced by elected officials and the president, the police force, and countries and international organizations with connections with Fiji.
"The government they want to set up will be totally illegal," Qarase told a small group of reporters inside his house in Suva, where he said he was under effective house arrest. "What the military commander has done has raped our Constitution."
New Zealand announced it was suspending defense ties with Fiji and would ban its military officers from traveling to the country. Bainimarama is believed to have children living in New Zealand.
"This is an outrage what is happening in Fiji," Prime Minister Helen Clark told reporters in Wellington, the New Zealand capital.
The major source of conflict in the country is essentially ethnic strife. While a thin majority of the country considers itself ethnically Fijian, a sizable Indo-Fijian (originating in India) minority exists, and tensions between the two ethnic groups have been at the heart of political disputes for decades. Frank Bainimarama, the military leader who orchestrated the coup, has been a vocal critic of former prime minister Laisenia Qarase, who he helped install, for attempting to pardon participants in an earlier coup in 2000.
Yet another example of why a civilian controlled military is a good idea.
Thai Army Not Superhero or Dancer Friendly
Apparently the party poopers in Thailand's military, responsible for the country's first coup in 15 years, want to be taken seriously.
Citing distractions from the "serious business of power," Today Bangkok police detained four actors dressed as superheroes for violating military policy.
After handing soldiers roses and striking a brief pose, the four promoters of a Japanese action-hero show coming to Thailand next month were whisked away in the back of a police truck.
"We invited them for questioning because we wanted to know why they were there," a police interrogator told Reuters. "Soldiers are afraid of third parties stirring things up after the coup, so we had to make sure they were harmless."
The men were later released without charge, the officer said.
This comes only a day after they banned go-go girls from dancing with the tanks and soldiers.
"It is not appropriate to entertain soldiers while they are on duty," Colonel Acra Tiprote told Reuters after a troupe of 10 women in tight camouflage vests and shorts posed with soldiers and tanks while making a music video.
"People should differentiate between entertainment and seriousness. A coup is not entertaining," Acra said, although the tanks sent in to lead Thailand's first coup in 15 years had turned Bangkok into a carnival-type attraction.
I say, lighten up, Thailand. If all our armies were filled with costumed heroes and scantily-clad women, war would be a thing of the past.
Pic location
Pic location
Thailand Falls
Thailand's prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was given the boot today in a bloodless coup led by General Boonyaratkalin, head of the Thai armed forces.
An army spokesman in Thailand says a general who has close ties to the country's king will serve as Thailand's acting prime minister.
This, after the army commander staged a coup and ousted the country's prime minister while the leader was in New York for the UN General Assembly session. The prime minister (Thaksin Shinawatra) had been scheduled to address the General Assembly later Tuesday, but that speech has now been canceled.
Back home, the army commander has declared martial law, and has revoked the constitution. He's surrounded the prime minister's offices with tanks.
The general who's been named as acting prime minister, Sondi Boonyaratkalin, is a Muslim in a country that is dominated by Buddhists.
In a statement on national TV, the new leaders say they took power without a struggle, and are asking for the cooperation of the public. The military says a provisional authority loyal to the country's king Bhumibol Adulyadej will soon return power to a democratic government.
Boonyaratkalin is on record saying "military coups are a thing of the past." Apparently not, although hopefully his pledge to return governmental control to elected officials is sincere; PM Thaksin has been weathering a brutal storm of criticism from what were widely perceived as his abuses of power, particularly in his family's sale of Shin Corp. stock earlier this year that netted them almost two billion dollars, that just happened to be tax free. Go figure? Being head of state has its perks.
Thaksin said he would step down after protests threatened to tear the country apart and a general election failed to gain even 20% of the required constitutional votes necessary for incumbents to retain office, leaving Thaksin in the "caretaker" Prime Minister position until the situation could be resolved. Seven months later he still hadn't left.
While coups are usually not a good thing, neither are corrupt democracies that refuse to respect the will of the electorate. Better times may lie ahead for Thailand.