We all know who got the most seats in Parliament.” And now it looks like The PPP is managing to form a coalition, which will allow them to really run things. Though, perhaps not:

Under an internal security law adopted last week, the military will have the power to intervene in the political process without consultation with the civilian government.

Last August, as the law was being drafted, Human Rights Watch, which is based in New York, branded it “a silent coup.”

[from the first link]

That strikes me as just a bit more upsetting than a mere PPP victory.

Well it seems that both won two very important goals today, the exit polls seem to suggest that the Military coup leaders are widely supported by the public AND Thaksin’s Manchester City beat rivals Manchester United.
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One thing you can’t say about BKK, it’s not dullville central :0)

Today the High Court Judges will pass judgement both the Thai Rak Thai and Democratic Party, and this ruling could have serious consequences for the stability of Thailand. His Majesty has already warned the judges last week that the future stability of the country rested on the fairness of their decision.

Obviously this could turn nasty or be as peaceful as the Coup, but BK Metblogs will be there with camera and hopefully be able to update you as the news comes in.

Anyone else planning on being in the area?

Update
Bangkok Pundit has a live feed of what is going on.

It seems that there is a noticable lull in Bangkok’s nightlife at the moment, Bed Supper club is just plane boring at the moment, Koi is still full of wannabe spanish catalogue models and the Tunnel seems to be getting shut down earlier every night, what’s going on?
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One of the first things that took place during last years coup was the immediate censorship of all media, especially the foreign satellite feeds. Tonights interview with ousted Prime Minster Thaksin was totally censored by the powers that be.

As of 12:36am, CNN is totally inaccessible from most ISP’s based in Thailand.
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I went to propose an Energy deal to one of the highest ranking officials in Thailand before the coup.

The project was worth about 4 Billion Baht.

I walked into his office at the Government House.

And the first sentence he said to me was -

“So.tell me about my retirement?”

Ah… the intricacies of doing business here.

The powers that be have finally started the process of lifting the Martial Law, which was enforced during the recent coup.
Whilst it’s not a total lift, with only 35 of 76 provinces still under the martial law, it’s a step in the right direction for real democracy and not military governed. Defence Minister Boonrawd was quoted as saying “We’ve decided to lift it in Bangkok and nearby provinces because we care about the international community and tourism”.

The emergency security laws will not be lifted officially until King Bhumibol Adulyadej gives his assent, a formality that is expected to take a few days.

Is this new administration bar friendly?

Bangkok’s nightlife has a new lease of life since the coup ended and now bars are staying open later.

It was a common enough experience in BKK before the coup, your just getting into your bottle of Johnny Black or Absolut when your told to drink up and go home by a lovely man in the worlds tightest police uniform. Luckily it seems our new caretakers of the democracy enjoy a little late night tipple and the general mood is that of a more relaxed, especially in the alleyways of Nana Plaza and Silom.

Any financial expert knows that keeping the drinkers drinking for longer is good for any economy (NYC has to be the leader in late night tipples!) and hopefully this is an indication of things to come?

Where are your favorite late night drinking spots?

Here at Bangkok Metblogs, we were pretty quick to start writing about the Coup, what was happening, and the effects on the people of Thailand. We were also quick to head down to the streets to get firsthand accounts and pictures of what was going on

I myself noticed how few traditional news networks were a the scene at 11pm on the 19th, and it seemed that the news reports that were being delivered were being done by people in news studio’s and not ones physically there.
Blogging has changed the way the public now receives information. Gone are the days of waiting for the big guns (CNN/BBC/Reuters) arriving at the scene to give the report, now local residents take it upon themselves to write up what’s happening and post it on their blogs. In recent events it’s these personal accounts that lead to the news agencies referencing.

The London bombings on 7/7 saw the first initial reports coming from local bloggers who lived near to the blasts. In India, local bloggers were the first to react to the terrorist attack on the Mumbai train attacks and the public found these blogs more up to date with information than local TV channels.

This blog received a large amount of traffic during the first hours of the coup and we also had our reports and images used by various other news websites since.

- Globo.com in Brazil used two images and details of what was happening on their news site (thanks to Luciana Mastrorosa)
- BlogTV included our site and images in a report on the coup. (If anyone would mind translating it that would be great)

The future of journalism has changed and it will be interesting to see how the mainstream media accept bloggers as a source of news rather than a passing fad

Well, my friend finally found out where his father disappeared during the Coup. I’m relived for him.

“A spokesman for the military leaders who staged the takeover said Thursday that four ministers from Thaksin’s administration had been detained.”

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/22/thailand.coup/index.html

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Personally, I’m in a strange situation. As I have close ties to both the TRT party, and the Coup factions.

But, I’m leaning in favor of Coup as I’ve seen first hand how TRT operates behind the curtains. Yes, there’s corruption everywhere in Thailand, and no doubt it’ll take a 100 years before it can make western standards. But kickbacks, and under table stuff is all fine and dandy, but the line has to be drawn when the nation’s best interest is constantly superceded by their own pockets.

I once was a part of consortium that won the bid to operate all the buses, taxis, and veichle links in the new airport. The following week, we were approached by a messenger from “The Big Lady” and informed we must pay to the tune of $10 Mil USD upfront as a fee just for winning the contract. The process is normal in big projects in Thailand, however the scale of money they asked is outrageous. The contract was abandoned because that alone would push the ROI back so far, it wouldn’t make any business sense at all. The operating rights eventually got spread amongst what I would call a “1st degree group.”

There’s no point in fighting the coup at this point, I rather urge effort be put into forming the new constitution with the idea of idependent operating government branches that ACTUALLY checks & balances one another. Terms of PMships be clearly defined, motions so the consitutions can’t be repealed like toilet paper, an audit committee and voice of the people (BKK & Provinces) where the King doesn’t have to come in and save us every single time.

The King can’t save us forever, yes he’s a great man but the laws of nature still apply to him. Thais must begin to realize he won’t live forever.

I don’t know how to draft laws, and far from a being political know-anything- England/American consitutions work to a degree, why can’t Thais base it on that? Electoral college? But even that system fails at times, *cough* Bush/Gore 2000.

Bring in foreign experts to help draft the constitution, don’t have such an ego and think we can solve everything on our own. It is great the coup is soliciting help to draft the new constitution, I only hope that they truely mean it and will genuiely take into account the suggestions sent it.