Tag: Thai politics

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Thailand’s ex-PM Samak dies

samak.jpg

AP:

Former Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej dies

BANGKOK — Samak Sundaravej, a firebrand politician who briefly served as Thailand’s prime minister but was ousted for simultaneously getting income as host of a popular TV cooking show, died of cancer Tuesday. He was 74.

Samak died at Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok after a long battle against liver cancer, hospital official Navachamol Sangkaew said. Samak had sought treatment for the cancer late last year in the United States and kept a low-profile after returning to Thailand.

Known as a straight-talker with a penchant for the profane, Samak’s political career spanned four decades but many supporters remembered him best for his TV show called “Tasting and Complaining,” a mix of traditional Thai cooking and rants on Samak’s pet subjects.

There’s more from CNN.com, Al Jazeera, Reuters, and AFP.

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Red shirts to rally from late Nov.?

Reuters:

Prolonged Thai rally in Nov

Fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s supporters announced plans on Tuesday for a prolonged street protest beginning in late November and lasting until the government steps down and calls elections.

It would be the first protracted demonstration by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) since their protests in April turned violent and were forcibly ended by the army.

‘The government is incompetent with only a self-serving agenda. We want the government to return power to the people and we will not stop until we finish the job,’ Jatuporn Phrompan, one of the key protest leaders said, adding that the plan is still tentative and is subject to discussion with other members.

(Emphasis mine.)

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“Fierce PAD nationalism on stage”

That’s the title of this post at Prachatai, which describes the PAD rally that took place here in Bangkok on Sunday:

The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) took to the stage at Sanam Luang with intense nationalism. Fiery nationalist rhetoric was stressed and repeated, while decades-old nationalist anti-communist songs were played throughout. The ‘Hun Sen Model’ was the latest term introduced to characterize the Cambodian leader. A larger rally was called for 5 Dec.

On 15 Nov, on stage with a pink backdrop which read in Thai ‘Unite the Strength of the Land. Protect Nation, Religion and King’, and in English ‘Fight for Thailand. Fight for our King’, the event started around 4 pm with some lesser known speakers.

Prasert Lertyaso called for the beheading of Hun Sen, General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, and Thaksin Shinawatra, alluding to an old Thai saying of shedding blood to wash royal feet. He banished Thaksin’s supporters to Phnom Penh and Dubai.

Saken Sutthiwong said that Cambodia was afraid that [Thai] F16 fighter jets would miss their targets and bomb Angkor Wat and Prear Vihear instead, because they earn their living from those ‘old stones’. Afterwards he sang ‘Ayutthaya’ and ‘Bang Rajan War’ songs which are about defending the country from its enemies, the Burmese in this case. He said he wanted Cambodia to get rich, so it could take its tens of thousands of beggars back home. Cambodian people are poor, as can be seen on TV when they storm through the border checkpoint like hell breaking loose. Thailand is not like that, because the Thai people have the King and Queen, he said.

(Emphasis mine.)

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Economist on Thaksin and Hun Sen (and info on Sun. PAD blast)

Just briefly: The Nov. 12 issue of The Economist has a story about Thaksin and Hun Sen. I won’t post any excerpts as it’s quite short. Give it a read.

(Via BP).

UPDATE: In other news, a blast at a PAD rally on Sunday injured 12 people. AFP has this item:

Grenade caused anti-Thaksin rally blast: Thai police

BANGKOK — Thai police said Monday that a grenade was responsible for a blast at a rally by opponents of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, as the number of injured rose to 12.

Organisers said the small explosion at the protest in central Bangkok late Sunday was caused by a firecracker thrown by men on a motorcycle, but police said they now believed it was a more serious attack.

(Emphasis mine.)

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More on Thailand, Cambodia and Thaksin

I’ve updated my earlier post about Thailand, Cambodia and Thaksin, but I wanted to add the latest news in a new post for RSS subscribers.

First, today’s development: Thailand has threatened to close the border with Thailand. Here’s an AFP story with more info.

And second, I wanted to point out some analysis from Reuters. The headline is “Thaksin launches new offensive to win back power.” Here’re the first few graphs:

His opponents may dismiss him as a fugitive criminal and a spent political force, but ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is redoubling his efforts to return to power in Thailand, and the government is stumbling.

His red-shirted supporters have been pushing for a royal pardon of his corruption conviction, which would allow the exiled billionaire to come home. Now Thaksin has raised the stakes with a series of moves likely to add fuel to an intractable crisis in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy.

His acceptance of an offer to become an adviser to the government of neighbouring Cambodia has caused an ugly diplomatic row, with the prospect of his running a political campaign from across the border angering the powerful opponents who have fought hard to keep him at bay.

“The government is being seen as incompetent and we’re slowly moving towards becoming a failed state,” political scientist Pitch Pongsawat said. “Thaksin wants to steal the show … and we’re headed for a whole different battle.”

(Emphasis mine.)

I suggest reading the whole thing.

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Thailand, Cambodia, and Thaksin

First this:

AFP: “Cambodia makes Thailand’s Thaksin adviser: government”

Cambodia said Wednesday it had appointed fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra economic adviser to premier Hun Sen in a move that adds to tensions between the countries.

The appointment was announced on state television almost two weeks after Hun Sen first riled Thailand by offering safe haven to Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and is living abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption.

And then this:

New York Times: “Thailand Recalls Its Ambassador to Cambodia”

The Thai government announced Thursday that it was recalling its ambassador to Cambodia to protest Cambodia’s appointment of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted as Thailand’s prime minister, to a high-profile position. The moves put new strains on already tense relations between the countries.

Mr. Thaksin was removed in a coup in September 2006 and now helps lead the Thai opposition movement from abroad.

The Thai Foreign Ministry said the appointment of Mr. Thaksin as economic adviser to Cambodia’s prime minister represented a “failure to respect Thailand’s judicial system.”

“The Royal Thai Government cannot stand idly by and has to take into consideration the sentiment of its people,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The Thai government appears particularly dismayed at the idea that Mr. Thaksin, who now spends much of his time in Dubai, might be able to galvanize his supporters from just across the border. Hun Sen, the Cambodian prime minister, has offered Mr. Thaksin a residence in Cambodia.

And now this:

Reuters: “Thailand, Cambodia recall envoys over Thaksin spat”

Thailand and Cambodia recalled their ambassadors from each others’ countries on Thursday, deepening a diplomatic row after Cambodia made fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra an economic adviser.

The tit-for-tat spat threatens to worsen a political crisis in Thailand by giving Thaksin and his red-shirted anti-government supporters an ally just across the border, causing a diplomatic embarrassment for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

It also suggests deepening enmity between leaders of the two countries after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen soured the start of an Asian summit hosted by Abhisit last month by turning up and offering Thaksin the job of adviser.

(Emphasis mine.)

Watch this space…

UPDATE (Fri., 3:30 p.m. local time): A development from AFP: “Thailand threatens to seal Cambodian border.”

Thailand threatened Friday to seal the border with Cambodia in a spiralling diplomatic row over Phnom Penh’s naming of fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an adviser.

The warning came a day after the two countries recalled their respective ambassadors due to the dispute over the appointment of Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption.

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Thailand’s political crisis — from a quantum physics perspective

This event listing in yesterday’s Bangkok Post is, well, remarkable:

Here’s an open invitation to a new talk show-turned-seminar series called “Head + Heart Walking Together!” The first event, on the topic of “Crisis of Thailand and Beyond from a Quantum Physics Perspective”, will be held from 1 to 5.30pm, on Sunday, October 18 in the LT Room, Faculty of Law, Thammasat University, Tha Phra Chan campus. The speakers will be Sivinee Sawatdiaree, a physicist from the National Institute of Metrology; Attakrit Chatputi, founder of Vcharkarn.com and the Thai translator of Fabric Cosmos; and Pramual Pengchan, philosopher and writer of Walk to Freedom. Thammasat law academic Kittisak Prokati will deliver a closing speech under the theme of “Scientific Worldview in Social Science”. Admission is free. For more details, call 02-613-2125 or visit http://headheart.wordpress.com.

Note: The URL in the listing is Thai-language only.

Those of you who would like to attend the event can brush up on your quantum physics here.

(Bangkok Post item via Physics and Physicists via TheThaiReport.)

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Anniversary of Oct. 6, 1976 massacre

Today is the 33rd anniversary of the Oct. 6, 1976 massacre, in which military and police fired on student protesters at Bangkok’s Thammasat University, killing nearly 50 people.

More info is at 2Bangkok. Here’s a 2006 piece from the Nation, and here’s an article in an academic journal from 1997. And finally, here’s an AP/NYT story about former Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej’s revisionist remarks in 2008 about the massacre.

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TIME magazine on Thai PM Abhisit

Just wanted to point out that the current TIME magazine has a story about PM Abhisit. The headline, appropriately enough, is “Man in the Middle,” and the piece describes the current state of the Thai political crisis and Abhisit’s place in it.

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Images and videos from Saturday’s Red Shirts protest

Here are a few images I snapped at Saturday’s red shirt protest here in Bangkok. (Back story is here and here.)

Red shirts protest

Red shirts protest

Red shirts protest

Red shirts protest

Red shirts protest

Red shirts protest

There are a few more in the full set on Flickr.

And below are two short videos. I shot these on my Nokia E71 cell phone amid the pouring rain, with a clouded lens, so please excuse the image quality. The videos should give you a sense of the atmosphere at the rally, however.

Video one (embedded below): protesters listen to a speech in the rain.

Video two: a motorbike procession: