Thai coup leader to install new PM in two weeks

BANGKOK, Sep 20: Thailand's military coup leaders will choose a new prime minister within two weeks and step back from power, army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin said today.

Speaking less than 24 hours after he led a bloodless coup to oust billionaire Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Sonthi also said it would take a year to produce a new constitution leading to a fresh general election.

The military leadership was poring over civilian candidates who loved ''democracy and constitutional monarchy'' to replace Thaksin, who flew to London on Wednesday from New York where he had been attending the UN General Assembly.

''We have two weeks. After two weeks, we step out,'' Sonthi told a news conference, speaking as head of an interim ''Political Reform Council'' run by the military, which says it acted because there was no other way out of a protracted political crisis.

The new cabinet would form a special committee to draw up a new constitution and submit it to a referendum, after which new elections could be held, he said.

''It will take a year to draft a new constitution,'' he said.

Political reform is considered essential by Thaksin's foes to allow what they say are supposed to be independent state agencies such as the election commission to be purged of his allies.

Not a shot was fired in the coup and the streets of Bangkok were quiet on Wednesday with very little military presence except around Government House and nearby army headquarters.

''The situation in Thailand is very calm. There is no threat to tourists,'' a Thomas Cook spokesman said in Germany of a country which draws about 12 million visitors a year.

Concerns about a conflict or even a counter-coup by Thaksin's supporters appeared to evaporate and Sonthi invited the ousted leader to return, promising his assets would not be touched.

''Thaksin is a Thai and a fellow countryman and there will be no problem should he decide to return. We are like brothers,'' said Sonthi, overwhelmingly Buddhist Thailand's first Muslim army chief.

SHOCK, DISAPPOINTMENT

National Police Chief Kowit Wattana said Thaksin would not face any new probes, but he would have to answer cases already filed. These include charges of election fraud and allegations that he insulted revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thaksin has said nothing in public since he tried to thwart the coup with a televised statement from New York yesterday Leaders around the world expressed shock and disappointment at the sudden overthrow of Thaksin, whose huge popularity in the countryside gave him two landslide election wins.

The United States, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand condemned as undemocratic Thailand's first coup in 15 years but its 18th since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.

But analysts said even though the outside world might view it as a step back, it might prove to be a step forward if it cleared the way out of what many saw as an intractable political deadlock threatening the stability of the nation.

''This coup will be different from the previous coups,'' said Somjai Phagapasvivat of Bangkok's Thammasat University.

''Before, it was done in the interests of the military. This time, it was a necessary pre-emptive strike given the violent polarisation of Thai society.'' The Thai stock market was closed today after the coup leaders declared a one-day holiday but analysts polled by Reuters were predicting a five per cent drop when it reopened tomorrow.

The baht, which suffered its biggest one-day fall in three years in the hours after the coup, remained under pressure but rebounded somewhat.

The military said the coup was necessary to institute reforms to resolve a political stalemate that pitted Thaksin against the political old guard and street campaigners, who accused him of subverting democracy for his family and friends in big business.

Thaksin argued he was democracy's defender against opponents using unconstitutional means, but the crisis undermined investor confidence and curbed economic growth.

Late yesterday, television showed the armed forces chiefs heading in a motorcade to the palace to report to King Bhumibol, images likely to dampen any agitation in the countryside by associating the coup with the crown.

Asked if he had the backing of the palace, Sonthi told reporters: ''No, we had no supporters. We made the decision by ourselves.''

REUTERS