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Debra P Tous  09/27/2006 10:30:47 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Debra P Tous

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UNCLAS        BANGKOK 05866

SIPDIS
CXBKKSVR:
    ACTION: PA
    INFO:   POL CHRON DCM CONS

DISSEMINATION: PA1
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: PAO: ACASPER
DRAFTED: POL: SSUTTON
CLEARED: CONS: BCAMP, DCM: AARVIZU

VZCZCBKI906
RR RUEHC RUEHCHI RUEHZS
DE RUEHBK #5866/01 2650927
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 220927Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1850
INFO RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 2474
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 005866 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/PD JESSICA DAVIES, EAP/P KEN BAILES, EAP/MLS MELANIE 
HIGGINS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPAO PHUM TH
SUBJECT: SNAPSHOTS OF YOUTH REACTION TO COUP 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: Public Affairs officers and PA local staff spoke with 22 
Thai high school and university students throughout the country to 
gage their reaction to recent events; the majority expressed support 
for the military coup. All were grateful that no blood was shed. 
While most reasoned that it was the only way forward from the 
current political impasse, others were dismayed that democracy was 
circumvented.  Some expressed appreciation for certain Thaksin 
initiatives and most expected Thaksin to return to Thailand 
eventually.  Students are still sharing information about the coup 
with friends despite censorship of media sources (see septel) by 
leaders of the Council for Democratic Reform under the 
Constitutional Monarchy (CDRM).  What follows are snapshots from 
telephone interviews with students from pro-Thaksin and anti-Thaksin 
districts around Thailand. END SUMMARY 
 
BANGKOK PERSPECTIVES 
-------------------- 
¶2. Ms. Pornchanok, a 20 year-old political science major at 
Thammasat University - one of Bangkok's best public universities - 
beamed that the coup was the "nicest in world history."  She argued 
that Thailand is in trouble and that Thaksin could not solve any of 
its problems. Pornchanok echoed the views of other students 
interviewed when she said that what is important for Thailand is 
what comes after the coup - not the coup itself. She got much of her 
information about developments from TV and emails from her friends 
and was not particularly upset by censorship of websites by the coup 
supporters. 
 
¶3. Another Thammasat University political science major held the 
opposite viewpoint: Ms. Ratchawet, 20, saw no justification for the 
coup and argued that the next round of elections scheduled for 
November 2006 should have been allowed to proceed. "Now we'll have 
to wait for one year," she lamented.  Pornchanok admitted that while 
she was in the distinct minority on the issue of support for the 
coup, she did not feel inhibited to express her views freely in the 
classroom. Outside the classroom, she said she would not feel 
comfortable doing so. 
 
¶4. Mr. Anucha, a 17 year-old Muslim student at an Islamic school in 
Bangkok, had mixed feelings.  He believed that the coup was 
necessary and suggested that it was time for Thaksin to "take a 
rest."  Yet he praised Thaksin's projects, one of which landed 
Anucha a scholarship to study at a university in Spain.  "I wonder 
what will happen to my scholarship under the new government," he 
said.  He's not betting that the new government will be any better 
than Thaksin's but believed it was not good for the country to be 
divided any longer. 
 
¶5. Ms. Wanitcha, a 25 year-old student at Assumption University in 
Bangkok, supported the coup and disagreed with international media 
coverage of it.  Asked what she thought would happen to U.S. - Thai 
relations, she stated that the U.S. might look at this as a step 
backwards, but eventually "the U.S. will understand why this had to 
happen."  Wanitcha noted that she is at odds with her family in the 
north of Thailand, where her uncle is a prominent Thai Rak Thai 
politician opposed to the coup.  She said that her parents and 
sister, who are farmers, have been beneficiaries of agricultural 
subsidies provided by Thai Rak Thai party members. In her view, 
those handouts "have made so many farmers lazy." 
 
VIEWS FROM SOUTHERN THAILAND 
---------------------------- 
¶6. PAS interviewed students at Prince of Songhkla University (PSU) 
in Pattani and at Islamic schools in Nakorn Si Thammarat, both in 
the predominantly anti-Thaksin South of Thailand.  Few surprises 
here; most students signaled that it was time for Thaksin to go 
because he couldn't resolve the political stalemate. They also 
expressed reservations about what the new government will bring. One 
21 yr-old English major at PSU said that she didn't know if Gen. 
Sonthi had a hidden agenda, but that she has to believe that the 
coup will help solve Thailand's problems. Two PSU students 
interviewed at the Embassy's American Corner in Pattani expressed 
similar views about the need for Thaksin to go.  Neither believed, 
however, that Thaksin's absence from the scene would quell the 
Islamic insurgency in southern Thailand. 
 
¶7. A 17 yr old high school senior at an Islamic school in Nakhon Si 
Thammarat expressed hope that since General Sonthi is a Muslim, he 
might be able to find a solution to the problems in the South. 
Another student, Mr. Rathip, 17, from the same school disagreed with 
the coup, because "the people do not have a voice now."  He said 
that the scheduled elections for November 2006 were so close and 
should have been allowed to happen. Rathip expressed admiration for 
Thaksin's handling of the country's drug problem.  However, he 
thought that having a new government now might turn out to unite the 
Thai people. 
 
THE NORTHERN TAKE 
----------------- 
¶8. PAS spoke with students at the American Corner at Chiang Mai 
University (CMU) in northern Thailand and at Ubon Ratchatani 
University (UMU) in northeastern Thailand. Both areas have been 
bastions of support for Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party.  Opinions 
about the coup were mixed.  One 22 yr-old female CMU student said 
that the political situation had reached the crisis point and she 
did not feel very good about the state of democracy in Thailand. She 
said that the coup would not solve the problem but that in her 
circle of friends no one wanted to speak publicly against it.  A 28 
yr-old Masters degree student at CMU expressed a similar view, 
noting that a new government might get rid of corruption but that a 
coup is not a democratic way to solve the country's problems. 
 
¶9. Two 20 yr-old law students at Ubon Ratchatani University held 
opposing views of the coup.  Mr. Jakruvut argued that the coup was 
not good for Thailand because the economy will worsen and people 
would have to wait one year to have a chance to vote for a new 
government when the November 2006 elections were just 2 months away. 
 Jakruvut added that many other students at his school shared his 
viewpoint but they did not feel they could speak freely in public. 
The second law student, Mr. Winai, supported the coup, calling it 
"acceptable" because no one was hurt and because the coup leaders 
promised to hold power for only two weeks.  Winai added that he and 
his parents had long been Thaksin supporters up through the March 
2006 elections but the political problems dragged on far too long. 
Both Winai and Jakruvut did not like the current decree prohibiting 
them from talking politics in groups of five or more people. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶10. Despite attempts by CDRM agents to block websites and email 
transmission, Thai youth are certainly tuned in to political 
developments and quite willing to express their opinions when asked. 
 In most cases, their views were not black and white and their 
thoughts about the coup and Thailand's fragile democracy are 
exercises in cognitive dissonance.  Even though they may come from 
areas known for either supporting or opposing Thaksin, these 
students have formed their own opinions to the point of disagreeing 
with their families and friends.  What unites them across 
geographical distances is a genuine concern with how this suspension 
of democracy will shake out. 
 
BOYCE