Thai ruling party at risk as court mulls key case

Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra's Puea Thai party has delayed a parliamentary vote on "reconciliation" proposals (AFP/File, Pornchai Kittiwongsakul)

07/05/2012
AFP

Thailand's Constitutional Court on Thursday began hearing an incendiary charter amendment case that could lead to the dissolution of the ruling party and tear open the kingdom's bitter political rifts.

The court is set to rule over claims that plans by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's party to amend the constitution are a threat to the deeply-revered monarchy.

Opposition Democrats also accuse Yingluck's party of seeking to redraw the country's charter to enable the return of her divisive brother Thaksin, who was ousted from power in a coup by royalist generals in 2006.

Analysis: Is Thailand’s military compromising for the sake of reconciliation?

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinatwatra (center) and army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha (right). (Picture via Flickr, licensed under CC)

May 18, 2012
By Saksith Saiyasombut
AsianCorrespondent.com

The East Asia Forum recently published a column on the current political role of Thailand’s military written by John Blaxland, Senior Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University with 30 years of service experience with the Australian Military and also a graduate of the Royal Thai Army Command and Staff College. In short: Dr. Blaxland has lots of military experience.

In the column, also republished in The Australian, he criticizes “the classic Western liberal tendency of painting complex situations in black-and-white terms” where the Thai military is being portrayed power-hungry, coup-happy force. Blaxland takes the 2006 military coup and its consequences as precedence for the Thai armed forces to be hesitant to stage another one, despite repeated cycles of rampant rumors.

Blaxland assumes that the military acted on their own in September 2006, although many heavily disagree with this notion. He also notes that the 2008 change of government was merely an act among political parties, not mentioning the fact that the Democrat-Bhum Jai Thai coalition was reportedly brokered in the residence of then-army chief General Anupong Paochinda and in presence of his successor and then-chief-of-staff General Prayuth Chan-ocha.

Taksin, you rock, you dog!

Photos by Meng Kimlong on Flickr

Created with flickr slideshow.

Death threat to Thaksin remains

Tuesday, Apr 17, 2012
The Nation/Asia News Network

Defence Minister General Sukampol Suwannathat re-confirmed yesterday that fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra is being targeted for assassination.

Because of security concerns Thaksin is reported to have cancelled a market visit in Cambodia.

He had flown to Phnom Penh to visit the father of Cambodian premier Hun Sen.

Sukampol added that criticism of Thaksin's recent moves might hamper national reconciliation and had not taken into consideration that Thaksin had the right to travel and his actions were acceptable.

Thaksin targets 'auspicious' homecoming

16/04/2012
Bangkok Post

Despite delivering a speech to a crowd of red shirts saying such an "auspicious" year as this might be the right time to come home, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra denies this implies he is planning an early return.

Thaksin said he hoped good things would happen to him on what he said was an auspicious year for Thailand.

He noted that 2012 will mark the 80th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen and the 60th birthday of HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn.

He said yesterday that in such a year disputes should be settled and left behind.

Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand's ex PM, addresses rally in Cambodia

Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra speaks to his supporters at the That Luang Stupa during a visit to the Laos capital Vientiane on Apr. 12, 2012. Thousands more Red Shirt supporters are expected to attend his follow-up rally in the Cambodian tourist town of Siem Reap. (Nicolas ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images)

The fugitive former leader has been telling Red Shirt supporters he will be back in Thailand within 4 months.

April 14, 2012

Hélène Hofman

Global Post

Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra is holding a mass rally for his "Red Shirt" supporters in the Cambodian tourist town of Siem Reap.

AFP says that Thaksin would fly into the country this morning, after spending three days in neighboring Laos.

Thaksin, who was ousted in the 2006 coup, has been living in self-exposed exile since 2008 to avoid a jail term for corruption.

He has been telling his supporters that he will return to Thailand in the next three to four months, Asia One reports.

Thaksin Shinawatra arrives at Siem Reap International Airport

Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra (L) shakes hands with a Cambodian government official upon his arrival at the Siem Reap International Airport in Cambodia, April 14, 2012. Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin took some small but symbolic steps towards the fringes of his homeland on Wednesday after five years in self-exile and at the heart of a bitter and bloody power struggle. The visit is Thaksin's closest to Thailand. (Reuters)

Thaksin: I'll be back home soon

12/04/2012
Bangkok Post

VIENTIANE -- Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has again told his supporters he will set foot in his homeland as soon as the political situation returns to normal, which he believes will be soon.

Thaksin made the assertion after he took part in a bai sri su kwan well-wishing ceremony at Wat That Luang in Vientiane on Thursday morning amid very tight security provided by local authorities and red guards of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).

Thaksin, accompanied by UDD core member Kwanchai Praipana and about 500 red-shirt supporters, also took part in a merit-making ceremony involving 129 Lao monks and 100 Thai monks.

Why would Cambodia allow joint development of Preah Vihear with Thailand when the temple and the land belong to Cambodia?

Thanasak agrees with Thaksin's temple plan

Preah Vihear area would be mutually developed

14/03/2012

Wassana Nanuam & Manop Thip-Osod

Bangkok Post

Supreme Commander Thanasak Patimapakorn has agreed to a proposal by exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to jointly develop the 4.6sq km disputed border area around the Preah Vihear temple.

Gen Thanasak made the statement after Thaksin, in a recent interview with the Bangkok Post, said that while he was prime minister, he had offered his Cambodian counterpart a joint development plan to turn the area into a tourism spot.

Thaksin also said Noppadon Pattama, the foreign minister at that time, should not have supported Cambodia's application, which has put Thailand at a disadvantage in the border row.

Gen Thanasak said joint cooperation between the two neighbouring countries would benefit both sides.

It would be more useful to develop the spot for mutual benefit, he said.

Thaksin fears legal loss

Monday, 12 March 2012
Cheang Sokha
The Phnom Penh Post

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has made a pessimistic assessment of his country’s chances of winning an international legal battle over the Preah Vihear temple, while Cambodia has submitted its case in the dispute to the United Nations’ highest court.

Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said yesterday that Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong travelled to The Hague on Thursday to deliver Cambodia’s case documents to the International Court of Justice.

“We have prepared enough evidence in responding to Thailand,” Koy Kuong said.

In late November, Thailand submitted 900 pages of documents to ICJ defending its claim over 4.6-square kilometres of disputed territory surrounding the 11th-century temple.

Thaksin warns of Thai friction over temple [-Thaksin only thinks about Thai interest!!!!]

HISTORY OF DISPUTED PREAH VIHEAR AREA IS IN CAMBODIA'S FAVOUR, SAYS FORMER PRIME MINISTER

11/03/2012

Bangkok Post

 

The dispute along the Thai-Cambodian border in the Preah Vihear temple area could develop into a heated conflict among Thais if the International Court of Justice's clarification on the case does not favour Thailand, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has warned.

The government, under the premiership of his younger sister Yingluck, will have to work very hard to explain the facts about the issue and Thailand's justification for its position, he said.

Thailand and Cambodia have been engaged in a dispute over the sovereignty of 4.6 sq km around the temple in Si Sa Ket province. The issue caused conflict between the countries when Cambodia applied to register the temple as a world heritage site with Unesco in 2009.

The Thai government, then under the premiership of the late Samak Sundaravej, supported Cambodia's application. That led to the Cambodian government demanding to develop the temple and the 4.6 sq km area to meet the World Heritage Commission's requirements.

Cambodia denies claim of soldiers hired to help Thai PM in case of coup

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian government denied Monday that it had allowed or supported some 5,000 hired Cambodian soldiers to help current Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in case of coup to arise.

In a statement released by the spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, it said the Cambodian side "denies a fabrication of information and incitement by Mr. Somkiet Phongphaiboon, activist of the People's Alliance for Democracy (Yellow Shirt) at which he alleged that people who are close to former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had hired 5,000 Cambodian soldiers based along Cambodia-Vietnam border so as to help Thaksin's sister and his people in case of coup to arise."

The statement was made in response to Thai ASTV manager online which broadcast such allegation on Nov. 26.

The statement said based on the spirit of good cooperation between the two governments, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has highly valued the work of the General Border Commission (GBC) on the fight against terrorism.

The future refusing to be born: Thai fascism, genocide and the “Primister”

Nov 19, 2011
By Andrew Spooner
Asian Correspondant

With talk ratcheting up of a pardon for the former Thai PM, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was illegally ousted in a coup in 2006, the Thai right wing and supporters of the neo-fascist PAD seem to have descended into a hysterical meltdown. Is this a sign of their increasing desperation as they realise that the wheels of history are turning against them? Famous British Labour Party MP and minister, Aneurin Bevan, who founded the UK’s National Health Service in 1946, once summed up fascism in one pithy comment and it seems as relevant today to Thailand’s PAD as it was to 1930s European fascism -

Fascism is not in itself a new order of society. It is the future refusing to be born.

First, there’s the issue of the present prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra’s use of the English language (Siam Voices contributor Kaewmala has her take on the entire matter here which I’m roundly in agreement with).What Kaewmala has missed though, are some of the terrible and highly amusing English language manglings made by Yingluck’s critics, the best of which is below.

Thai neo-fascists attack Yingluck's English while mangling their own

Thaksin keeps low profile in Thai flood crisis

Thursday, November 10, 2011
By Michelle Fitzpatrick (AFP)

BANGKOK — With a flood crisis rocking his sister's government, fugitive ex-Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra is lying low as prospects of a triumphant homecoming look ever more distant, observers say.

The usually outspoken Thaksin, who lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption, has mostly shied away from publicly commenting on a disaster that has killed more than 500 people and threatens the heart of Bangkok.

The former tycoon, 62, has posted several messages on Twitter and Facebook offering sympathy to the victims.

Some relief supplies reportedly also had "with love and great concern from Thaksin Shinawatra" written on them -- without his knowledge, his aides say.

1,000 red-shirts enter Cambodia

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen shows his style during a training session at the Olympic stadium in Phnom Penh on Sept 22, 2011. (Photo EPA)

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (right) shows his style during a training session at the Olympic stadium in Phnom Penh on Sept 22, 2011. (Photo EPA)

23/09/2011
Bangkok Post

More than 1,000 red-shirt supporters queued up at an immigration checkpoint in Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district to enter Cambodia on Friday, reports said.

The atmosphere at the checkpoint was lively, with a large group of United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship supporters singing and dancing.

Many of them were carrying images of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen. 

There were signs saying "Thaksin, We Miss You", "We Love Hun Sen" and "We Love Cambodia".

Thaksin pushing the limits

Ex-PM's brazen Skype contact with ministers raises questions on how far he will go to undermine the law

September 23, 2011

By Tulsathit Taptim

The Nation

Thaksin Shinawatra loves to push the limits, but Wednesday's incident was as if he was attempting to demolish the barriers. His Skype contact with Pheu Thai ministers was the most legally defiant act since his youngest sister became prime minister.

Long-distance communications with his people are not new. Thaksin used video links to rabble-rouse the red shirts, to calm down Pheu Thai politicians and to send open or encoded political messages to whoever was working for him. However, that was when Pheu Thai was in the opposition camp. Wednesday's Skype talks were directed to political office holders, to whom he gave advice on the flood crisis and the economy. Has he gone too far this time?

Critics were quick to point to Prime Minister's Office regulations that prohibit political officials from giving support to people with legal problems - like Thaksin. It's not hard to determine whether listening to his Skype advice constituted "support". What's much harder is the question of what can be done about it.

Yingluck govt flirting with danger

September 23, 2011
The Nation

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her Cabinet members may face possible legal problems for allowing former premier Thaksin Shinawatra to interfere with their work of running the country.

The Prime Minister's Office regulation on code of ethics for political office holders, issued in 2008 under the Samak Sundaravej government, states that political officials, including the prime minister and other Cabinet members, must not associate with or support any person who violates the law or gets involved in illegal activities such as running a gambling den or selling drugs.

Thaksin tells CPP leaders to strictly respect the law system

The fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (L) speaks during an economic lecture at the Ministry of Economy and Finance in Phnom Penh, Sept. 17, 2011. Thaksin Shinawatra on Saturday afternoon gave an economic lecture to approximately 150 Cambodian economists and high-ranking officials. The lecture was under the theme "Strategy for Sustainable Growth and Poverty Reduction in the Context of New Economy and Finance in Asia: Policy and Option for Cambodia." (Xinhua/Phearum)

Thaksin gives economic lecture in Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The fugitive ex-Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Saturday afternoon gave an economic lecture to approximately 150 Cambodian economists and high-ranking officials.

The lecture was under the theme "Strategy for Sustainable Growth and Poverty Reduction in the Context of New Economy and Finance in Asia: Policy and Option for Cambodia."

Describing Cambodia is like his home, Thaksin said that Cambodia's economy has developed well in the last decade, but the country still needs to invest more in infrastructure such as roads, bridges and railroads, and in the sectors of education and vocational training in order to create more job opportunities.

He said that in order to build trust among foreign investors, Cambodia must have "a clear economic policy" and "the law system must be strictly respected."

Understanding the Thai Political Crisis

How do we understand this?

Friday, 16 September 2011
Written by Pavin Chachavalpongpun
Asia Sentinel

All of the aspects of Thailand’s calamity will be on display in Singapore Monday

On Monday, September 19, Thailand will commemorate the fifth anniversary of the military coup that ousted the elected government of Thaksin Shinawatra. That fateful coup has changed Thailand’s political landscape.

Political developments that took decades to come to fruition elsewhere before they could become visible have been compressed into a brief period of five years in Thailand. The country has seen many tragic incidents and thus fallen deeper into a state of polarization.

Watching many incidents in Thailand in the last five years is like watching a surreal soap opera. The plot is replete with heinous stories. The old elites have gone all out to eliminate their challengers, apparently by unlawful coup. They wanted to get rid of their number-one enemy, Thaksin, and eventually kick him out of the country.

But when Thaksin’s opponents returned to politics in 2008, they upgraded their strategies. This time, they seized the House of Government. They occupied the Suvaranabhumi International Airport, during which good food and good music could be found. They declared war with Cambodia so as to delegitimize the pro-Thaksin regimes. Thai upper class became more royalist that the royals themselves. The military walked into politics and threatened to stage another coup should the Thaksin cronies refuse to step down.

Thaksin may be a no-show at soccer game

September 16, 2011
THE NATION

Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra might not make an appearance at the soccer match between Thai and Cambodian teams scheduled for next week, a red-shirt source said yesterday.

"It would not be good for the Yingluck government if Thaksin were cheered by thousands of red shirts at the Cambodian stadium," he told The Nation. 

It would provide an opportunity for criticism from the opposition, the source said.

Kwanchai Praipana, a red-shirt leader, yesterday told supporters via his television programme to wait for confirmation that Thaksin would appear.