Thai military tightens grip on power

FE Team | Published: May 26, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

BANGKOK May 25 (agencies): Thailand's military will tighten its grip on power on Sunday as it moves to douse smouldering protests before they flare and rally commercial agencies and business to revitalise the country's battered economy.
The military stepped in to overthrow the government Thursday to end months of debilitating confrontation between the royalist political and security establishment and a populist government adored by the rural and urban poor.
Critics say the coup will not end the conflict between the rival power networks: the Bangkok-based elite dominated by the military, old money families and the bureaucracy, and an upstart clique led by former telecommunication mogul Thaksin Shinawatra which draws much of its strength from the provinces.
The military has detained leaders of the ousted government including the self-exiled Thaksin's sister, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, and an unknown number of her ministers, party officials, and supporters.
It has thrown out the constitution, censored the media and on Saturday it dismissed the upper house Senate, Thailand's last functioning legislature, in what amounts to a clean sweep of the political landscape.
Power now lies squarely in the hands of army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha and his junta known as the National Council for Peace and Order.
The military has summoned political, media, academic and civil service groups since the coup. Many of the politicians have been detained while others such as civil servants have been exhorted to work for the country.
Eighteen newspaper bosses have been summoned to appear on Sunday, presumably to receive directions on supportive coverage.
The military has called meetings with the leaders of state and private commercial organisations, senior officials of the commerce, finance and energy ministries and business leaders, oil trade and transport companies.
Six months of anti-government protests that finally led to the coup, the latest outbreak of a nearly decade-long clash between the establishment and Thaksin, have dragged down Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy, which shrank 2.1 percent in the first quarter of the year.
Some analysts fear the country could slide into recession if the political crisis drags on.