After the Royal Thai Army overthrew standing Prime Mininster Thaksin Shinawatra in a nonviolent cout d'etat Tuesday night while he was scheduled to speak at the United Nations in New York, University of Wisconsin students and faculty have responded with both shock and understanding.
Several Thai students at the University of Wisconsin said they were shocked to see military tanks rolling through the capital of Thailand, but were awaiting more details since Thailand is 12 hours ahead of Wisconsin.
"It's as much a shock to me as it is to you," UW senior and member of Thai Undergrads Association Taj Unakul said.
Unakul added military coups were common in the World War II and Cold War eras, but the trend has since faded, which Unakul said makes him think the military will back down.
"I think Thailand has enough democratic roots that there won't be bloodshed," he said. "But the fact that this happened really jeopardized our relationship with other countries."
With Shinawatra now overthrown, there are many questions about where the country could be headed.
Languages and Cultures of Asia professor Robert Bickner said Shinawatra has been a controversial public figure since he took office and several attempts to force his resignation failed earlier this year.
Still, Bicker said he did not think the coup would affect the average layperson's life in Thailand because the country has experienced nonviolent protests before.
"Thailand has had a number of coups in the last several decades," Bickner said. "Primarily, they have been handled in a bloodless fashion, and I think that's how it is happening now."
However, not all UW professors were sure just how Thailand's political and military wrangling would pan out.
"I think there are going to be many people that are going to be deeply distressed," said UW anthropology professor Katherine Bowie. Since Thailand's democratic government came to an abrupt halt in the prime minister's absence, Bowie said she was less certain about Thailand's future.
Bickner added it was unfortunate that tanks have cruised through Bangkok so many times in the past, but that those tanks are merely a show of power, not force.
"It is the head of one military unit moving against another unit of the power structure and … the tanks show the number of the supporters behind them," Bickner said.
