Thaksin power plays touch Thailand even from exile
THE shadow of the ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra looms over Thailand's military-appointed Government, with support for the discredited leader once again on the rise.
Unable to woo voters at home, Mr Thaksin has hired a firm of Washington lobbyists to polish his international image as a new poll shows support for the Prime Minister, Surayud Chulanont, is plummeting, down from 70 per cent approval in November to 48 per cent. In the same Abac poll, Mr Thaksin's support has risen from 15 per cent to a still modest 21 per cent.
While he waits, the self-exiled Mr Thaksin, with the help of the influential lobbyists Barbour, Griffith and Rogers, is waging an international public relations campaign. This week Mr Thaksin's "staying power" is the cover of the Asian edition of Time.
Now I have at least one international journalist backing me up.
3 comments:
With each new leader we Thais learn to be more wary of the next, because the leader(s) we usually get not only disappoint but also menaces. But there were some rare leaders that inspired with their integrity and dedication to King, country and its people. Prem, Anand, Chuan, Kukrij were such leaders who inspired. But the most recent leader we had, Thaksin Shinawatra was one of the most dangerous and the most flawed. Mega-corruption, nepotism, rampant constitutional abuses, extrajudicial killings, ineptitude, conflict of interest, tax evasions, and dangerous divisive politics were Thaksin's legacies of his rule. But Thaksin is not yet done with Thailand. Thaksin still believed he already BOUGHT the country one time, Thaksin can buy the country a second or third time.
Why won't the generals just confiscate his money and property? I talked to a banker. She told me the money is still in Thailand.
Since when was Chuan inspiring?! His government was ousted twice for corruption, and he wasn't willing to start the constitutional reform process. The guy was a disgrace.
Anand gained power through a coup - he wasn't so different from Surayud.
And Kukrit sat aside doing nothing as the country fell into the blodbath of 6 October 1976.
Prem, of course, was one of the most anti-democratic Prime Ministers Thailand has ever had. His long-term contribution to Thailand's political development can be seen from the fact that the man who took power after him was removed by a coup - a coup that Prem and the King endorsed.
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