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by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Sunday, 30 November 2008
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Last week Thailand descended into chaos as tens of thousands of protesters surrounded parliament in a bid to drive out the government it accuses of being puppets of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Since he was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006, his UK visa has been revoked, his wife has divorced him and a controversial two-year jail sentence for corruption awaits him in his home country. In his first interview in 18 months, he speaks to Arabian Business.
If Thaksin Shinawatra is feeling the heat, then he's not showing it. Thailand has an arrest warrant out for its former prime minister. The UK has just revoked his visa, and some Western countries are distancing themselves from the man they once championed as their greatest ally in Asia. And yet all Shinawatra can do is shrug.
"Do you know how many countries there are in the world? There are 197. And only 17 have an extradition treaty with Thailand," he notes with a thin smile. "Better still, only 10 of those treaties are active. So, don't you worry about me, I still have many places to stay."
One such place is Dubai, where Shinawatra is resting comfortably in one of the emirate's top five-star hotels. He might feel entitled to a break, too, as it has been a busy 2008 for the man first nominated to Thailand's top office in a landslide election victory in 2001.
Two years ago he was overthrown in a bloodless coup while visiting the UN in New York. Exiled after months of massive anti-government protests, he ended up in the UK, where he bought Premier League football club Manchester City.
After the 2007 election, in which his new People Power Party won a healthy majority, and the forming of a new democratic government by his allies, Shinawatra returned in early 2008 to face his corruption charges in legal courts. However, he and his wife skipped bail - they were convicted in absentia, and a lengthy stay in a Bangkok jail awaits them if they return.
The UK froze his reputed $4bn of assets, forcing him to sell Manchester City to Abu Dhabi's Sheikh Mansour. To add to his troubles, his UK visa was revoked - oh, and his wife divorced him last week.
"It's been a busy few months," he says, laughing at his own predicament. And it's about to get even busier, as Shinawatra reveals he intends to make a comeback in politics, tackle global poverty, reorganise the Middle East's healthcare system - and while he's at it, establish a sizeable foundation to look after Asians hit by the financial crisis.
The really tricky one on the above ‘Shinawatra to-do list' is return to politics. On October 21, 2008, five members of a nine-member special bench of the Supreme Court found him guilty of a conflict of interest and sentenced him to two years in jail.
The judges found that Shinawatra had ultimate oversight over the Financial Institutions Development Fund, a government-run agency that bought up bank collateral and mortgages. Shinawatra's wife won a competitive auction for a piece of land owned by the FIDF in 2003, and the judges found that his wife's purchase of the land was done on his behalf, thus constituting a conflict of interest.
Given the two-year jail term that awaits him upon his his return - not to mention a long list of political enemies who would like to see the back of him for good - a return to his homeland doesn't sound like the wisest move.
"I have no choice," he insists. "In the beginning after I was ousted, my wife asked me not to go back to politics. She didn't like politics, and the whole family went through a lot of hardship so I didn't go back.
"But now I have been cornered because the country is going down deeply," he continues. "The confidence is not there; the trust among the foreign community is not there; the poor people in rural areas are in difficulty.
With me at the helm I can bring confidence quickly back to Thailand, and that is why we have to find a mechanism under which I can go back into politics."
What does his wife think about this? "She has divorced me," he responds, bluntly - end of subject.
He admits that going back now would be too risky, but insists that "time is on my side". Last week tens of thousands of anti-government protesters marched on Thailand's parliament.
The protesters, from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) blocked all streets leading to parliament and besieged other state buildings, forcing MPs to cancel their business, in response to a grenade attack on the protester's camp that killed one of their supporters earlier this month.
Violence flared and as Arabian Business went to press, the head of Thailand's army had asked the government to dissolve parliament and call new elections - circumstances hardly conducive to a return for the former prime minister.
"I can stay here and do some business, enjoy life a bit. But I have to go back for my people and my supporters, most of whom are poor or middle class," he says.
"In the past the poor didn't see the future - they only saw the bitter past and short present," he continues. "After I became PM I gave them hope, I brought them freshness. They saw a future for their children to go to school and for their crops. They were happy - even taxi drivers were happy - and I brought the economy back to normal."
But could he really be PM again? Shinawatra is adamant that it could happen.
"The coup is still there - it has been transformed from a military coup to a judicial coup," he explains. "I think a lot depends on the power of the people - if they feel they are in hardship and they need me to help them, I will go back.
READERS' COMMENTS
Posted by a regular Thai, Bangkok, Thailand on Wednesday 31 December 2008 at 08:43 UAE time
How can you claim that all the good things that ever happened in this country here are all your initiative and your effort? You took the office after most of the crisis ruins (except yours, as you made a big fortune from the damage of the country by taking advantage of inside information as the minister of the by-then government to hedge currencies before floating currencyin 1998 took place) been solved and just spent the country reserve to lay down your popular policis for power.
Most of your policies are a hollow framework (dreamworks) and do not have a propered management structure; and even worse, some policies were just a gateway or means of corruptions for your nominee or family memebers and ciphone the money back to your businesses. It is a big lie and it is a conflict of interest!
You never donated a cent of your own money to the public health or any charity foundations. What you claimed were yours are from the goverment budget.
You never think of the well being, happiness and peace of others, the society and the country that has given you the chance to earn so such extreme fortune, even at the moment of happy festive season by hosting your gangsters to build up mob at the parliament house on the New Year Eve, as a measure to overthrow the new government, dreaming that you could come back into power.
Do not under-estimate the rural people, they are poor, and may have less opportunity to receive information but they are not stupid to be fooled around.
You should stop now, take a self assessment and start to live in peace. Do not think that the Thai people are all dumb and less wisdom than yours, you are not a wise man; otherwise you will not be in this position. Do Not blame others but to yourself.
All the above warning are not for yourself or your own good (as you certainly cannot realise), but for your children, because they certainly need a peaceful place to live and longer bright society future than yours.
Posted by Kon Thai, Bangkok, thailand on Tuesday 30 December 2008 at 22:26 UAE time
Do not come back to Thailand. We do not want you back. We are poor but we are not fool.
Posted by yeo, singapore, singapore on Thursday 18 December 2008 at 18:43 UAE time
Thaksin, serve you right. What comes around goes around. God is punishing you so stop all your political activity NOW!
Posted by Andre M., Banglamung, Thailand on Thursday 11 December 2008 at 07:17 UAE time
Megalomania is an unrealistic belief in one's superiority, grandiose abilities, and even omnipotence. It is characterized by a need for total power and control over others, and is marked by a lack of empathy for anything that is perceived as not feeding the self.
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