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Thai politics

TIME: “How Thaksin Stole Yingluck’s Spotlight”

TIME reports on Thaksin’s visit to Japan and Yingluck’s new government:

Is Thaksin Shinawatra a criminal or a VIP? The question must have vexed the Japanese officials who considered a request by the former Thai Prime Minister to start a six-day tour of their country this week. Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup, then sentenced in absentia to two years in jail for corruption. Previous attempts by the Dubai-based billionaire to visit Japan and other major nations have been stymied by a hostile Thai government. Stripped of his Thai passport, he travels the world as a citizen of Montenegro.
But Thailand’s government has changed — Thaksin’s younger sister Yingluck, 44, recently became the nation’s first female Prime Minister — and so has the status of its best-known fugitive. He arrived in Tokyo on Aug. 22 to be greeted by Japan’s Financial Services Minister Shozaburo Jimi. “Coming to Japan is my own right,” he told reporters. “My sister has nothing to do with it.”

There’s also this, on anti-Thaksin forces and the military:

Any attempt to pardon or repatriate Thaksin could regalvanize anti-Thaksin street protesters, who in 2008 occupied the Prime Minister’s office and shut down Bangkok’s airports.

It would also antagonize Thailand’s powerful military. Its generals have remained silent of late — conspicuously so in the case of Prayuth Chan-ocha, the gaffe-prone army chief. General Prayuth helped topple Thaksin in 2006 and his loathing for Pheu Thai is one of the country’s worst-kept secrets. But with October’s annual military reshuffle approaching, Prayuth is currently preoccupied with resisting attempts by Yingluck’s government to promote pro-Thaksin officers. “Prayuth and others are waiting until the reshuffle is complete,” says Chambers. “Then I think they’ll become much more vocal in their opposition to this government.”

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Thai politics

More on Thaksin’s Japan visa

2011 08 16 thaksin

Here’s more info on Thaksin’s recently having received an entry visa to Japan, which I mentioned yesterday.

The NYT/IHT provides some context:

Ms. Yingluck has gone out of her way to play down any influence that her brother may exert on her administration, and she has deflected questions about amnesty for him. But Mr. Thaksin is widely believed to be playing a key role as adviser and kingmaker to the new government. He was also instrumental in the election victory of Ms. Yingluck and her party in July.

There are also these additional details:

In issuing him a visa, Japan appears to have waived a rule that restricts foreigners with criminal records from entering the country.

Surpong Tovijakchaikul, Thailand’s new foreign minister, said Mr. Thaksin had requested the visa on his own. But Reuters quoted Yukio Edano, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, as saying that the Yingluck government had “asked for our help” in issuing the visa and that Japan took the step out of consideration for “bilateral ties.”

Elsewhere, the FT has some quotes from former Thai government spokesman Panitan:

“The foreign minister is trying to create a new understanding that Thaksin is not a criminal,” said Panitan Wattanayagorn, the former administration spokesman and now a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. “Puea Thai wants to send a new political message that Mr Thaksin is no longer a fugitive,” he said, referring to the ruling party.

And:

“He will get in trouble if he tries to push it too far,” Mr Panitan said.

(All emphasis mine.)

(Image: Wikipedia.)

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Thai politics

Bloomberg: Thaksin gets Japan visa

Bloomberg reports:

Japan said today it had granted an entry visa to exiled former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, 10 days after parliament selected his sister as the country’s first female prime minister.

Thaksin was granted a visa by Japan at the request of the Thai government, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told reporters today. Edano didn’t say when Thaksin would enter the country.

Thaksin is interested “in visiting and meeting with victims of the disaster in northern Japan and promoting goodwill between our two countries,” Edano said.
During the election campaign, Yingluck Shinawatra deflected questions on whether her Pheu Thai party, which won a majority in the July 3 vote, would promote amnesty for Thaksin who has been living in Dubai since fleeing a 2008 jail term for abuse of power. To engineer the return of her brother, she will have to overcome opposition from Thailand’s military, courts and bureaucracy.

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Thai politics

Thaksin as globetrotting trade envoy?

That’s what the Bangkok Post says today, quoting a Pheu Thai source:

The Pheu Thai Party is expected to appoint exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra as a government trade envoy to promote Thai exports abroad, which will enable him to freely travel the world.

But Noppadon Patama, Thaksin’s lawyer, tells the WSJ that:

“Mr. Thaksin has never thought about taking on any official role, and Ms. Yingluck has no intention of appointing him.”

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Thai politics

BBC interviews with Abhisit and Thaksin

The BBC on Sunday posted a text story about the upcoming election. Of particular interest are the embedded video interviews with Abhisit and Thaksin. Worth a watch.

As I noted following Abhisit’s address to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club here in Bangkok in March, he is a skillful politician.

Some analysts say he cannot connect with common people. But on “Hard Talk,” in the featured video, he was characteristically poised and on-message, and this surely must resound with an international audience. Just a thought.

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Thai politics Thailand

WSJ: “Thaksin’s Sister Pulls Ahead in Thai Polls”

Today’s WSJ notes that:

Fugitive billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra’s bold move to name his youngest sister as a candidate for prime minister appears to be changing the complexion of Thailand’s coming elections–and might provide the controversial politician a ticket home after nearly three years in exile.

Initial opinion polls suggest Yingluck Shinawatra is now leading the race to form the next government. A Suan Dusit Rajabhat University poll released over the weekend shows her opposition For Thais Party gaining 43% of the vote—up from 41% a week earlier—compared with the 37% for the ruling Democrat Party.

(Emphasis mine.)

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Thai politics Thailand

BKK Post and Nation: Thaksin’s younger sister as potential PM candidate

2011 04 12 yingluck

Today’s Bangkok Post and Nation are running stories about former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s younger sister, Yingluck, as the potential top Puea Thai party candidate in elections expected to take place in June or July.

Bangkok Post:

Thaksin pushes Yingluck for PM

Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to be named the Puea Thai Party’s No.1 party-list candidate, giving her an opportunity to become the country’s first female prime minister.

A Puea Thai source yesterday said the party’s key figures had travelled to meet former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the party’s main supporter and de facto leader, in Dubai and they had agreed to put Ms Yingluck, Thaksin’s youngest sister, as No.1 on the party list and name her as a candidate for the premiership.

Nation:

Problem with Yingluck as PM candidate is her brother loves her

Whether or not Thaksin Shinawatra will risk his beloved youngest sister Yingluck in politics has become a fascinating story, not least because it is a rare Thai political dilemma with real human elements.

While her possible nomination as Pheu Thai’s candidate to be prime minister may be good for the party, as she could romanticise the election campaign, the idea has its downside. She may end up being a sacrificial lamb.

Yingluck’s increasing presence in news headlines has to do with the fact that Mingkwan Saengsuwan faces the same fate as Yongyuth Wichaidit. Thaksin has tried and tested Mingkwan but is not satisfied. Last week’s messages from the man in exile were that the censure is over, and so is Mingkwan’s status as challenger to Abhisit Vejjajiva’s chief executive title.

No larger point to make here, but just wanted to point out the stories.

(Image: Bangkok Post.)

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Thai politics Thailand

Today’s WSJ: Thaksin on new elections

Today’s WSJ: Ousted Thai Minister Vows to Play Role After Elections

DUBAI—Thailand’s ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra emerged from months of silence in his self-imposed exile Thursday to say he intends to play a key role in running from afar his country’s economic policies if Thailand’s main opposition party wins coming elections.

His immediate goals include slashing corporate-tax rates and pushing for an amnesty for everybody charged with politically linked offenses in the tumultuous four-plus years since a military coup in Bangkok swept him from power.

“This conflict has been going on for five years and many people have suffered mentally and physically,” Mr. Thaksin told The Wall Street Journal in an interview in a villa in Dubai. “We should start all over again to help the country prosper.”

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Thai politics Thailand

WSJ: “Thaksin Seeks Probe of Thai Street Protests”

WSJ:

Former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra’s lawyers Monday said they have filed a petition to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands to investigate the way Thailand’s security forces suppressed massive street protests in the Thai capital last year. The move could embarrass the country’s army-backed government and further fray nerves in a country still coming to terms with the extent of last May’s violence, in which 91 people were killed and hundreds more injured.

It’s unclear whether the court will accept the petition; Thailand isn’t one of the 144 members of the International Criminal Court at the Hague. Some analysts portrayed the petition as a way to seek to invigorate a fresh round of antigovernment protests in Bangkok or otherwise generate publicity for Mr. Thaksin, a former prime minister deposed in a 2006 coup.

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Thailand

Sven on Thaksin: “He didn’t understand football.”

2011-01-12_sven-thaksin.jpg

Speaking of England, Thailand, and soccer, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this BBC story, though it’s not new, having run on Jan. 6:

Sven-Goran Eriksson admits Shinawatra strain at Man City

The former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has told BBC Radio Manchester of his problems he had with former City chairman Thaksin Shinawatra.

The 62-year-old, now in charge at Leicester City, lasted only one year at Eastlands after joining in July 2007.

He said: “His biggest problem was that he didn’t understand football at all and he didn’t realise that.

“He thought football was easy just tell the players to be aggressive and we will resolve all the problems.”

“I think we did well in the whole league more or less until Thaksin decided I had to go at the end of the season,” he added.

“Every time we lost he never spoke to me for a week after but when we won it was dinner and very nice hugs and things, so it’s difficult to work with people like that.”

(Emphasis mine.)