Coup puts Thailand's dream of world role on ice

Bangkok, Sept 24: Thailand's military coup puts paid, for the time being at least, to the country's ambitions under Thaksin Shinawatra to play a more assertive role on the regional and international stage.

Surfing the wave of confidence that came with swift economic recovery from the 1997 Asian crisis, Thaksin never missed a chance to fly the flag, from sending troops to Iraq, to hosting world leaders' summits, to pushing for a Thai to succeed Kofi Annan at the United Nations.

With the ousted prime minister now a virtual refugee in London, and with generals once again in charge in Bangkok after a 15-year democratic hiatus, that looks set to end.

''In the past, Thailand took a very low profile, wanted to be in the middle of the pack. But in Thaksin, you had an energetic, ambitious guy who had an energetic, ambitious vision for Thailand on the southeast Asian and world stage,'' said one Bangkok-based diplomat.

''All this can't be good for that.'' Since the billionaire telecoms tycoon first swept to power in 2001 in a landslide election victory, Thailand has been in the headlines not simply as the picture-postcard ''Land of Smiles'' tourist destination.

Having paid off its 17 billion dollar bail-out by the International Monetary Fund early, it has gone on to become a net foreign donor and leader in the global fight to combat bird flu.

Despite the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killing more than 5,000 people, Thailand spurned foreign assistance, saying aid should go to more needy countries.

After Hurricane Katrina, Thaksin dispatched forensics experts to New Orleans to help U S officials identify bodies.

UN CAMPAIGN

Bangkok has also established itself as one of Asia's premier conference venues, hosting U S President George W Bush and other Asia-Pacific leaders at APEC in 2003 and the 15th International AIDS summit in 2004.

Encapsulating this new-found confidence was the relentless push of Thaksin's deputy, Surakiart Satirathai, to succeed Kofi Annan as U N secretary-general and become the first Asian in the post since Burma's U Thant in the 1960s.

Ever the optimist, Surakiart said on his return to Bangkok after Tuesday night's putsch he was still confident of getting Annan's job, but admitted the coup had made it that much harder.

''What I have to do now is visit a couple of more countries on the U.N. Security Council,'' he told reporters. ''It might have some effect because now it would be more difficult to seek meetings with their prime ministers.'' Immediately after seizing power, the army took pains to summon foreign diplomats to stress foreign policy, including, interestingly, pet Thaksin projects such as Surakiart's bid and various free trade talks, would remain unchanged.

However, diplomats and opposition leader Abhisit Vejajiva said until democratic credibility was restored in a country that thought it had finally broken a habitual cycle of coups, nobody would be able to take it seriously. ''It's a step back.

How long will it take to recover will depend on how quickly the coup leaders can prove they are really here for reform. That remains to be seen,'' Abisit told Reuters.

Human rights groups said no matter how fast the ''junta'' returned power to civilians, long-term damage had been done already.

''By nature, military rulers leave things behind to ensure that their interests endure. And by nature, those interests are contrary to the rule of law, human rights and genuine democracy,'' the Asian Human Rights Commission said in a statement.

''Proof of this can be found today in Pakistan and Burma, and in the leftovers of military dictatorships in virtually every country of South and Southeast Asia,'' it said.

REUTERS