Thaksin on a mission to humiliate Thai government
More News
BANGKOK | Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s former prime minister, has spent much of the past three years roaming the globe, shopping for diamonds in Africa, golfing at Asian resorts — and humiliating the government from a distance.
Now the fugitive ex-leader is an economic adviser to the government of neighboring Cambodia, and that is too close for comfort for Thailand’s current leadership.
The appointment last week by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has entangled both countries in a diplomatic brawl that prompted Thailand first and then Cambodia to recall their ambassadors last week.
Hun Sen last month had soured already tense relations by offering Thaksin a home in Cambodia and vowing not to extradite him. The comments rattled Thailand, which has a dispute with its neighbor over border territory that led to several small but deadly clashes over the past 1½ years.
Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup after being accused of massive corruption and now helps lead the opposition from abroad.
Analysts say Thaksin’s latest move could launch a political comeback.
“Thaksin is on a new offensive. This is a calculated campaign to undermine this government and to change governments,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.
The government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva called the appointment by Cambodia an “interference in Thailand’s domestic affairs.”
Thaksin is thought to be in Dubai. He has not indicated if he plans to live in Cambodia or spelled out how he will perform his new dual role as personal adviser to Hun Sen and an economic adviser to his government.
Thaksin, a tycoon turned politician, was elected by landslide wins to serve two terms as prime minister from 2001 to 2006. He retains huge popularity among his power base of the rural poor. They have staged frequent rallies calling for his pardon and return to power. But he is reviled by the educated urban elite, who led months of street protests that resulted in the coup, and again when his allies briefly took power.
Efforts to minimize Thaksin’s role in Thai politics have failed. Thai courts have sentenced him to two years in prison for corruption while in office and dissolved his political party, while his Thai assets worth $2.25 billion have been frozen and his Thai personal and diplomatic passports canceled.
No comments:
Post a Comment