Former coup leader Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin has written a book that will reveal the truth behind the 2006 coup but he will allow it to be published only after he dies, media reports said.
The reports said Gen Sonthi had written six books in total before he became leader of the Matubhum party and one of them features untold facts behind the Sept 19, 2006 coup that toppled the Thaksin Shinawatra administration.
The other books are about Gen Sonthi’s personal life, military career, the southern insurgency, events and conditions on the Thai-Cambodian border among many topics.
Although all the books are complete, they have yet to be published for fear of subsequent effects on people who are mentioned in them.
Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin (centre), then army commander, announces the coup to the nation during a TV appearance on the evening of Sept 19, 2006.
The general has also specified that the book containing details of the coup be published only after he has died, the reports said.
Gen Sonthi was chairman of the Council for National Security, which toppled Thaksin’s government. Today he is an MP and chairman of the House committee on national reconciliation.
Gen Sonthi earlier this week refused to answer questions asked by Maj Gen Sanan Kachornprasart, advisory chairman of the Chartthaipattana Party, about whether the 2006 coup was his own idea or if someone else was behind it.
He said the mystery about "someone" being behind the putsch he led would not be made public even after he dies.