"A line had been crossed...."

In this posting at Metroblogging Bangkok, Bonafide writes:

Personally, I'm in a strange situation, as I have close ties to both the TRT party, and the Coup factions. But, I'm leaning in favor of Coup as I've seen first hand how TRT operates behind the curtains.

With regards to “kickbacks,” Bonafide believes that “a line had been crossed.”

I once was a part of consortium that won the bid to operate all the buses, taxis, and vehicle links in the new airport.The following week, we were approached by a messenger from "The Big Lady" and informed we must pay to the tune of $10 Mil USD upfront as a fee just for winning the contract. The process is normal in big projects in Thailand, however the scale of money they asked was outrageous... The operating rights eventually got spread amongst what I would call a "1st degree group."

There's no point in fighting the coup at this point, I rather urge effort be put into forming the new constitution with the idea of independent operating government branches that ACTUALLY checks & balances one another...

The underlying assumption here, on Bonafide's part, is that a decent constitution can be written under the new order; that the junta and those backing it will not succumb to the very temptations they criticize in Thaksin; that power in the hands of just a few men during this so-called "interm period" will not corrupt the process of designing a better constitutional government. The outcome may depend on the health of the king. Bonafide acknowledges this -- that time is not on Thailand's side to set things right:

The King can't save us forever, yes he's a great man but the laws of nature still apply to him. Thais must begin to realize he won't live forever.