PATTNAPONG CHANTRANONTWONG
Editor, April 2006 to December 2013
About five months after I took the helm, the Thaksin Shinawatra government was toppled by a coup led by Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin, and about five months after my retirement, the government of Thaksin’s youngest sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was ousted by a coup led by Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha.
The last coup before the one staged by Gen Sonthi on Sept 19, 2006, took place on Feb 23, 1991, when Gen Sunthorn Kongsompong, the supreme commander, and Gen Suchinda Kraprayoon, the army’s commander-in-chief, ousted the Chatichai Choonhavan government.
Since then, many Thais, including me, believed that the coup in 1991 would be the last in this country. But we were wrong. Today no one dares to bet that the coup staged by Gen Prayut will be the last one.
And during my seven-year-and-eight-month period as editor of the Bangkok Post, Thailand had six prime ministers — Thaksin, Gen Surayud Chulanont (appointed by the coup leaders), Samak Sundaravej (the first PM under the 2007 constitution), Somchai Wongsawat, Abhisit Vejjajiva and Ms Yingluck.
The most peaceful period during my editorship seemed to be during the regime of Gen Surayud. After the country returned to democracy, all the elected governments faced protests from their opponents. The governments of Thaksin, Samak and Mr Somchai faced protests from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) led by Sondhi Limthongkul, while Mr Abhisit’s government faced protests by the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) led by Jatuporn Prompan and Nattawut Saikuar.
The Somchai Wongsawat government became the first and only government that could not access Government House and had to run the country at Don Mueang airport, then abandoned as the country’s international airport, throughout his 75 days in power.
After the 2011 election, Ms Yingluck became the 28th prime minister of Thailand and enjoyed only a short honeymoon period before facing strong protests by the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) led by Suthep Thaugsuban.
The Post’s daily news conferences were flooded with protest news and violent incidents here and there. Many newspapers and media organisations were accused of taking sides with either of the two camps. Some were dubbed red-shirt papers while others were accused of being yellow-shirt supporters.
Although the Post had tried its best to maintain its neutrality and professionalism with balanced and unbiased reports, our head office was almost burned down by angry red-shirt protesters.
On May 19, 2010, the Abhisit government decided to crack down on UDD protesters. The protesters fought back. Although it was still unclear which side set the CentralWorld building in Ratchaprasong on fire, a group of red-shirt protesters marched towards the Bangkok Post building. Fortunately, a group of people nearby and security guards of our neighbouring firms joined together to block the protesters. Even so, we had to work and produce our papers in a small hotel on Phatthanakan Road as the power station in Klong Toey was damaged by protesters.
That was probably one of the most exciting incidents for the Bangkok Post during its 70-year history, and it took place during my editorship. Alas, I was in Japan on a business trip and when I cut short my schedule and rushed back to Thailand, the situation had returned to normal.