Thailand back to work 36 hours after coup

BANGKOK: Thailand was back to work as normal on Thursday, less than 36 hours after a military coup condemned by international leaders but endorsed by the royal palace and greeted by many Thais with relief.   

The military shut down the city on Wednesday, in the interests of maintaining calm, they said. But Bangkok traffic was back to the familiar near-gridlock, while coup leaders worked on fulfilling a promise of a civilian prime minister in two weeks.   

Ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra arrived in London overnight from New York, where he was at the UN General Assembly when the coup was staged on Tuesday, and appeared to accept his fate.   

"I was prime minister when I came, and I was jobless on the way back," the Thai News Agency quoted him as telling reporters travelling with him.

"I volunteered to work for the country, but if they don't want me to do that, I won't."   

Thaksin was welcome to return home to Thailand, coup leaders said, although the police chief made clear he would have to face charges already filed, including charges of election fraud.   

The politically wise, however, were not ruling Thaksin out of the game.   

"This is not a man who likes to lose," Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University told reporters.

"Thaksin's support runs deep."   

"If there's an election supervised by the UN, Thaksin and Thai Rak Thai would win, and that's a problem for Thailand," he said, referring to Thaksin's political party, which translates as Thais Love Thais.   

Fears for the Thai economy eased as calm prevailed and coup leaders set out the timetable for return to civilian rule, although Morgan Stanley cut its annual economic growth forecast for the second half of the year to 2.4 per cent from 3.5 per cent.   

Thai stocks dropped nearly four per cent on reopening on Thursday but within minutes recovered to less than two per cent lower than Tuesday's close.   

The drop was not as precipitous as feared in the immediate aftermath of the coup, when credit ratings firms had warned of possible downgrades.   

Moody's Investor Service reaffirmed Thailand's ratings and stable outlook on Thursday and the Thai baht was steady in early trade after shedding nearly two per cent on Tuesday.