While the international community has criticised the Sept 19 military coup in Thailand as undemocratic, the majority of the Thai people have supported it. According to one survey, more than 80% of Thais gave their approval. This surprises not only the international community, but also the Burmese next door. For most Burmese, coups are extremely frightening. In the 1988 coup in Burma, thousands of soldiers stormed the streets, arresting or killing anyone found outside. The sounds of military marching songs and gunshots rang through the air. A strict curfew severely limited people's ability to travel and carry out their business.
Unlike in Burma, the Thai coup happened without bloodshed and the coup leaders gave a detailed time-frame for transferring power back to a civilian government. They promised an interim government within two weeks and a newly elected government within a year, which has given credibility to their road map. In Burma, the 1988 coup leaders held an election two years later, refused to transfer power to the winners when their party lost, and are still in power today.
So far, the Burmese regime has tried to hide the news about the Thai coup. Only a tiny piece of information was reported in the regular foreign section of the state-controlled media that a coup recently took place in Thailand but no details were provided. The Burmese junta is clearly worried that the Thai coup will make them look bad in comparison. But many Burmese people and military officers are tuning in to foreign radio broadcasts to learn more about what is happening in Thailand.
Burmese have been struck by the friendly attitude of the Thai military toward the people. The coup leaders apologised for any inconvenience caused by the coup, and soldiers smile and willingly take pictures with delighted citizens. There were no intimidating military marching songs or images in the broadcasts, instead, only songs and images of the King. Neither was there a curfew imposed to disturb people's day-to-day life.
In addition, they have noted how the coup leaders have prioritised the economy by quickly choosing respected civilian experts to lead an economic advisory committee. They are not going to try to run the economy themselves, as the Burmese military has. As a result, the baht has remained strong, and investment and trade have barely been affected. But in Burma the economy has been getting worse and there have been annual increases in inflation since 1988.
The Council for Democratic Reform (CDR) has also said that the constitutional drafting process will only take six months. While some Thai academics have argued that this is longer than necessary, it seems quite short from a Burmese perspective. In Burma, the regime started a constitution drafting process in 1993, but 13 years later, the constitution is still not written.
Many Burmese, who have such high hopes for democracy, are sad that Thailand's problems apparently could not be solved by political means and that the 1997 People's Constitution was abrogated after the coup.
But, they may also be inspired by this coup which seems to reflect the Thai military's commitment to establishing a solid base for democracy to flourish in the future. This could be done: technically, by rewriting a better constitution and, conceptually, by promoting democracy education in Thai school curricula.
The Thai coup may cause the Burmese mid-level military officers, who were not involved in important decision-making during the 1988 coup, to reconsider that coup and the military rule in Burma. Perhaps this may lead to greater discontent within the armed forces at the sorry state of the country, and growing pressure on the regime to implement political and economic reform. At the same time, Burmese democracy activists feel that any new Thai government will be better than the Thaksin government because for the past five years Thai policy toward Burma was largely driven by Thaksin's personal business interests in the country. While previous Thai governments took an interest in the terrible human rights problems in Burma, Thaksin once said that he could understand why the Burmese generals detained Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Burmese people wish the Thais every success in their endeavour to establish a sustainable democratic system in Thailand. They would also like to see the ethnic Muslim insurgency in the South which was previously mismanaged by Thaksin resolved by political means, as has been suggested by coup leader Gen Sonthi and welcomed by the Muslim community leaders. They also hope that Thailand will serve as a positive example for Burma, which has been struggling for its own democracy and ethnic rights for decades.