Until now, Thailand has managed to sustain an image as a relatively stable, law-abiding country. This is despite the fact that it has adopted 17 constitutions and suffered umpteen coups in its 76-year history as a constitutional monarchy. But who is counting? That is partly because there has often been an almost ritualistic element to Thai military interventions in which men in neatly pressed uniforms ushered in one set of civilians and waved out another without a whole lot of bloodshed. I was in Thailand for the coup of 1985 (was there only one that year?) and failed to notice it.
迄今爲止，泰國設法維持了一個相對穩定、守法國家的形象。儘管在其76年的君主立憲制歷史中，它已頒布了17部憲法，經歷過無數次政變。但有誰在乎？在一定程度上，這是由於泰國軍隊的介入常常帶有一種近乎儀式主義的元素——身著熨燙整齊制服計程車兵迎來一班文官，並送走另一班人，沒經過什麼流血衝突。1985年政變時（那一年只有一次政變吧？），我就在泰國，卻未能注意到此事。