(Picture) Thailand Parliament building before the Coup on September 2006

(Picture) Chris Runckel, President of Runckel & Associates in Thailand on September 19th.

On Tuesday, September 19, 2006, I was on the 10th day of a business trip with clients looking at alternate sites for a factory in China, Vietnam and Thailand.  Landing in Bangkok that afternoon from Ho Chi Minh City on what was noted to be “International Day of Peace” according to my day planner I expected an uneventful two days in Thailand.  This is not to say that I wasn’t aware that differences between Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and members of the Thai Military, particularly those in Class 10, weren’t seriously strained but because I like most international observers had seen Thaksin repeatedly twist and dodge to maintain his position and had consequentially been reluctant to count him out. At 5 PM as I sat down to have drinks with Mr. John Muller, Head of Security Services Asia (SSA), one of Thailand’s most well regarded security firms and a senior security specialist in the Thai office of Spectrum OSO Asia, Ltd., an international security consultancy, plus head of the Security Committee for the American Chamber of Commerce and founder of the U.S. Department of State Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) in both Thailand and Cambodia, Muller’s two cell phones suddenly began to sing with reports of the coup and with both incoming and outgoing calls from the many major international corporations he advises.

As we both listened to reports and discussed our assessments, neither of us was pleased to hear the reports of the first coup in 15 years in Thailand as investment in Thailand had been slowing down recently in response largely to the Thai political impasse that has characterized the past eight months and to fears of terrorism largely driven by bombings and other acts of protest in the far South of Thailand.  The next day, I woke up to blocked international news channels, a temporary block on cell phone communications although to a continually active free press that reported on the coup and on the countries reaction.

(Picture) In Bangkok's Sukhumvit area, the traffic was light, but no tanks or solders, except at some intersections

In the days since the coup, I have talked extensively with Thai government officials, influential Thai friends and business contacts.  The assessment they pass along to me and that I have grown to accept is that the actions of the military were an example of doing “the wrong thing (a coup) but for the right reasons”(national unity and an end to controversy which was splitting the nation).  They point out and my own nearly 35 years of experience in Thailand supports that Thailand is unique in Asia.  Thai’s have never been colonized and are alone in Southeast Asia in this position.  Thai culture emphasizes avoidance of conflict and resolution of problems through compromise and conciliation. Although most educated Thais deeply regretted the coup and the loss of national face that a resort to it created, they all felt a sense of relief in that the controversies that had divided Thailand during the last eight months of Thaksin’s rule were now behind the nation and a new beginning was in the offing.

About the Author:  

Christopher W. Runckel, a former senior US diplomat who served in many counties in Asia, is a graduate of the University of Oregon and Lewis and Clark Law School. He served as Deputy General Counsel of President Gerald Ford’s Presidential Clemency Board. Mr. Runckel is the principal and founder of Runckel & Associates, a Portland, Oregon based consulting company that assists businesses expand business opportunities in Asia. (www.business-in-asia.com)