Military coups almost always set back democracy. But the aim of Thailand's bloodless coup last week is to save democracy in a key Southeast Asian country.
The key fact about this coup is that King Bhumibol Adulyadej supports it. The king, revered by his 65 million predominantly Buddhist subjects, has been dedicated during his 60 years on the throne to making democracy work. While staying above politics, he conveyed his conviction that Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's richest man, had to be removed as prime minister because he was threatening to destroy not only Thai democratic institutions but also the monarchy that defines Thailand.
Mr. Thaksin, who was in New York when Thai generals declared martial law, went into exile in Britain. If he returns to Thailand, he is likely to be arrested on corruption charges. But if he tries to take part in a new election, the political crisis he created could be reignited.
The Thai dilemma is that Mr. Thaksin decisively won two elections -- three if last April's vote boycotted by opposition parties and then legally annulled is counted -- but used his five years in office to buy the system that put him in power. He blatantly practised what he preached: "A company is a country. A country is a company. They're the same. The management is the same."
His egocentric management style created a dangerous divide. Poor rural villagers strongly backed Mr. Thaksin, who paid for many of their votes but promised and provided virtually free medical care. His Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party won the first majority in Thailand's parliament, usually split among a number of parties.
But middle-class Thais in Bangkok and smaller cities strongly opposed Mr. Thaksin as he named cronies to new government agencies designed to prevent financial and electoral abuses. When his family sold (tax-free) its $2-billion telecommunications company to Singapore's trading arm, protests against Mr. Thaksin spread, leading to political paralysis.
These huge demonstrations were due to resume, with the risk of violence, as a mid-October election neared. Another reason for the coup was evidence that some elements in the military were moving to Mr. Thaksin's side. A major unacknowledged factor is that King Bhumibol, at 78 and in uncertain health, is running out of time to establish democracy fully and firmly.
The king first intervened in 1973, when he dismissed military dictators in response to a Thai student revolution. In 1992, he found a way to get rid of generals who had carried out Thailand's last conventional coup. In 2006, as in 1992 and earlier, the king's closest associate in struggling for democracy is a retired general and former prime minister, Prem Tinsulanonda. At a time of Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand, another key figure close to the king is Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, the Muslim army commander. General Sondhi spoke for the military high command when he said: "We would like to reaffirm that we don't have any intention to rule the county, and will return power to the Thai people as soon as possible."
Thai democracy did not prove strong enough to withstand the depredations of Mr. Thaksin, who, as a former police colonel, had made his first billion selling mobile phones to the government and, as prime minister, had carried right on with money politics. The king publicly rebuked Mr. Thaksin for his excesses. But he long resisted action to remove him. But, with Mr. Thaksin unwilling to leave and his party indicted for corrupt practices, there was no other course.
If Mr. Thaksin had returned to full power, Thai democracy would have become a mockery, and the monarchy that holds Thailand together inevitably would have been badly damaged. Now the Thai people have another chance to make democracy work. To do that, they can still rely on King Bhumibol for guidance. The long-established Prachatipat (Democrat) party is in a position to head a new elected government.
And, as the late democratic prime minister M. R. Seni Pramoj put it, the country once known as Siam may also need Siam Devi Dhiraj -- the Siam Guardian Angel.
David Van Praagh, a former South Asia correspondent for The Globe and Mail and a professor of journalism at Carleton University, is the author of Thailand's Struggle for Democracy: The Life and Times of M. R. Seni Pramoj.