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Published on September 20, 2007

Both commented yesterday to defend their records on the first anniversary of the military coup, which toppled Thaksin from power and sent the country back on the learning curve of democracy.

"There will now be a national election on December 23, which the junta wants the world to accept as free and fair. As campaigning begins, however, the junta continues to apply martial law in 35 northern and northeastern provinces," Thaksin wrote.

"To ensure its free hand, the junta is resisting efforts by the European Union and others to deploy election monitors. The world appears inclined to accept all these departures from democratic norms. The explanation is as simple as it is troubling. The international community is so disgusted by the junta's mismanagement that it wants it to pass from the scene as soon as possible.

"Rather than quarrel over the details of democracy, the world appears ready to look the other way so as to provide no reason for the junta to delay the Dec 23 election. In a bizarre twist, the junta's greatest weaknesses - its incompetence and unpopularity - have been transformed into its greatest short-term strengths."

Sonthi spent a busy day yesterday with the media to give views on his and the National Security Council's role in the past year since the coup.

"If there had been no coup on that day, what would have become of Thailand at this moment? What would the old power clique be doing now? Everybody knows, and all the agencies or organisations know, that the country would have suffered more than this by several fold," he said.

"We have to admit that this is also democracy. After the coup, I returned power within 12 days. This is not dictatorship. Calling me a dictator is simply part of a political attack."

Asked to assign a score over the performance of the National Security Council, the military body, Sonthi said others should be in a better position to rate the military, nor was he in a position to evaluate the performance of the Surayud government.

"I can't answer on behalf of the government over its performance over the past year. You have to ask the government. The Council for National Security has given independence to the government to run the country. The Council for National Security only appointed the prime minister - not the Cabinet. But the prime minister is an honest person and has a good determination," Sonthi said.

Thaksin charged that the military staged the coup partly because of claims his government was corrupt. But he said, so far, none of the charges against him has been sustained, forcing them to concoct new reasons.

"To try to stop me or anyone sharing my enthusiasm for free markets and democracy from ever regaining power in a free election, the junta has banned my former political party, forbidden over 100 of the most prominent political figures in Thailand from running for political office, and frozen my financial assets in Thailand," Thaksin said.

"For most of the past year, Thailand has been under martial law, with freedom of the press restricted and activity by political parties severely limited."

What will happen to the Council for National Security once it no longer holds the power?

Sonthi said that he should be the first person to be checked out if something happened or if the old power clique returned to power.

"The members of the Asset Examination Committee might be the next in line (to suffer from retribution). But don't be afraid," he said. "We should not act like chickens at Chinese New Year. The chickens fight and hit each other in a bamboo cage. But in the end, they all have to be slaughtered."

Thaksin said in the referendum on the Constitution last month, an unexpectedly large number of Thais voted against the adoption of the Constitution despite severe restrictions on organised opposition to the referendum imposed by the junta during the campaign.

Sonthi said: "The Thais living in the Northeast or Isaan voted against the constitution draft. But if we look at the figurers closely, we'll find out that about six million of them used to support the old regime. Now this figure has fallen to four million.

"The number of these people (who used to support the old regime) should easily fall further.

"The military coup was intended to restore democracy. In the future, if the people do not support the coup, the coup can't take place. If the society is strong enough, we do not need to have a coup. All parties must help to restore strength to the country."

The Nation