Ousted Thai leader's luxury limbo
From correspondents in New York
20sep06
HOLED up in a plush New York hotel as tanks rumbled into Bangkok, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was a spectator at his own downfall as a coup by mutinous generals played out on live television.
Shinawatra took refuge in the luxurious confines of the 1400 room Grand Hyatt hotel, which towers over fabled 42nd Street in the bustling heart of Manhattan, 11 time zones from home as his fate was apparently sealed.
The dramatic developments played out as Thaksin prepared to deliver a speech to the UN General Assembly – an address the power grab forced him to cancel.
He had been due to spend his time in New York rubbing shoulders with the world's most powerful statesmen and women.
But instead he was condemned to a lonely and unwelcome exile in the Grand Hyatt, as Thai army chief General Sonthi Boonyaratglin took over his powers, revoked the constitution and imposed martial law.
As US news networks screened footage of Humvees and armed soldiers in the Thai capital, Thaksin can hardly have avoided watching the political earthquake back home.
Diplomats meanwhile were left to speculate on Thaksin's fate. Asked whether Thaksin could go home, one South-East Asian official said privately: “Yes, but I don't know whether he can land in Bangkok”.
An aide to Thaksin said he planned to leave the United States tonight but did not say where he would go.
It was not decided if Thaksin would go back to Bangkok, even though he still has an official plane at his disposal, the official said.
Earlier, as the coup raced to a climax, Thaksin's aides in New York admitted they had lost touch with events back home.
In an ironic twist, the man who made billions from telecoms couldn't even call home to fight back, after rebellious troops seized television stations, a Thai official said.
”It is very difficult to communicate with people, to get to know the exact situation there,” a harried official said.
Thaksin's aides wouldn't say whether he had been in touch with Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej – the country's beacon of stability as fragile democracy emerged from decades of political turmoil and coups.
Earlier, Thaksin aides had insisted he would not relinquish power.
“The Thai Prime Minister is quite calm,” a senior Thai official said.
“He watched US President George W. Bush speaking at the UN General Assembly from his hotel room,” the official said.
“He feels that he is the elected Prime Minister and he would like to safeguard the Constitution of the country.”
In the early hours of the coup, as troops closed in on his office in Bangkok, Thaksin had taken to the airwaves, broadcasting on Thai TV networks from his hotel suite, sacking the army chief, and declaring a state of emergency, as the teeming Thai capital slumbered.
But as the networks were seized by the army, Thaksin found his only access to the Thai people cut off.
In the stately Grand Hyatt lobby, journalists and a few ex-pat Thais gathered to learn Thaksin's fate.
Meanwhile, outside Thailand's UN mission, anti-Thaksin demonstrators gathered, chanting “Thaksin go to hell” and booed when an upper window of the mission briefly opened.
“We normally don't like coups,” said 48-year-old Chanyute Oottamakorn, a New York City employee originally from Nakorn Sri Thamarant.
“But this time we welcome it. We needed it because he's so stubborn,” he said.
“We are happy,” said another protester, a woman in her 50s who declined to give her name, describing Thaksin's regime as a corrupt group of liars.
Confusion reigned at Thailand's embassy in Washington.
“We are watching it on CNN,” an official said.
