Response to Thai coup surprisingly underwhelming

WASHINGTON — Because of old movies and cheap novels, Americans aren't surprised by a coup or two in Asia.

Yet it has been 15 years since Thailand's constitutional monarchy has been shaken by a military uprising. Before last week, it was well on the way to becoming a stable democracy.

The world should have reacted with something approaching shock to a bloodless coup against a democratically elected prime minister in a thriving nation of 65 million people. He wasn't all that bad and, compared with others, was pretty good.

Yet the United States, Britain and others who advocate the spread of democratic rule abroad by force are treating this more or less as a Thai internal matter. While calling on the Thais to restore democracy swiftly, they are not calling on the military leaders who seized power to restore Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to the post to which the people elected him twice.

Thaksin was ousted while in New York attending the opening of the United Nations. So, this was not only a blow to democracy and the rule of law but to the right of peaceful international assembly.

Nobody seemed to mind. Thaksin was in his second term and declining in popularity. (You'd think that would win him some sympathy points from the Bush administration.) The revered king of Thailand apparently concurred in the prime minister's ouster by the armed forces and replacement by a general named by the military.

Coups used to be the national sport in Thailand, although not so much lately. It seemed to be pretty tame stuff there.

Things were so safe that jolly American tourists were posing for blogs with Thai troops standing on tanks.

President Bush once reportedly liked Thaksin. But his inability to quell the Islamic rebellion in the south of his country caused second thoughts.

His replacement by Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, a Muslim, means that Thailand, once again, has no constitution and it is governed by force of arms. Sondhi apparently will act as prime minister with the blessings of the king, pledging to restore democratic government in a year.

This was the 18th coup in Thailand since it became a constitutional democracy in 1932.

Thailand, however, has become a booming place. Its tawdry sex industry is a shame. But its embrace of the free markets, its civil democracy and its improving fiscal habits have been a bright spot in Southeast Asia.