The chronic political instability in Thailand intensified with the bomb that exploded last week in the middle of a major Bangkok tourist area. With 20 dead and still counting, the event is a decisive rebuttal of the military dictatorship's promise to restore 'happiness' to Thailand.
That's how coup leader and now Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha articulated the aim of the military coup in May 2014 – to make Thais happy again!
Official responses to the bombing, its agents and its principal actor appear increasingly like an episode of the Keystone Cops.
The longer the uncertainty remains, the more farcical the tragedy becomes. Officials contradict each other on basic detail as junta leaders play politics with their local and international allies and adversaries. And still there is no plausible explanation of who, why and with what expected outcome the act of calculated, lethal malice was executed.
The operatives appear to have slipped detection for the time being. Reportedly early intelligence suggested the bomber immediately hopped on a motorcycle taxi and headed to the airport. That was later denied when, after inspection of the photographs of everyone coming in and out of Thailand's international airports, there was no evidence of the phantom figure in a yellow T-shirt.
But what this latest lethal episode says is this: Thailand's political woes will probably only get worse. Why? Because the central issue in Thailand's public life remains unresolved.
The issue? Royal succession. For the appearances of a constitutional monarchy, the rule of law and democratic institutions, Thailand's political and economic culture still revolves around the frail and ageing king and the military.
The wheel-chair bound head of state, the world’s the longest serving royal ruler, is very rarely seen. Yet the reverence he genuinely commands across the vast majority of the Thai population remains intact. But negatively, what drives the ready reverence for the 'father' of the nation is the ambiguity surrounding his son. He will succeed to the throne some time. What the coup was mostly about was the military taking out insurance to make sure they would be in charge when the change came, and that they would be setting the agenda.
The previous government of Yingluck Shinawatra — sister of the ex-Prime Minister Thaksin, deposed in a coup in 2006 — did some economically destructive things that bought it the votes of rice farmers in crucial localities. And they initiated parliamentary procedures to have Thaksin exonerated for his corrupt