Thaksin 'will stop protests if govt spares him from jail'

Fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra wants the government to spare him legal punishment.

In return, he will put an end to protests against it, says a Puea Thai Party source.

The move was part of a strategy laid out by Thaksin, as conveyed by politicians who visited the ousted prime minister in Dubai recently.

The politicians included opposition Puea Thai Party members and those suspended from politics by a court decision dismantling the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) and People Power parties.

The source said Thaksin wanted the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship movement to keep up its campaign against the government.

At the same time, he wanted to open talks with the government about his fate.

Any negotiations would proceed on the condition that Thaksin would be spared the two-year jail term which he fled overseas last year to avoid.

Last year, the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions sentenced Thaksin to two years in jail for a conflict of interest when he was prime minister, and Khunying Potjaman na Pombejra, then his wife, won a bidding contest to acquire land in the Ratchadapisek area. The auction was in 2003.

Thaksin's 76-billion-baht assets seizure case, for which a court verdict is expected in January, would also be up for negotiation.

If they reached a deal, rallies against the government would cease and the Democrat-led coalition government could remain in power.

The Puea Thai source said if Thaksin was spared legal punishment, he would not mind if the government stayed on to finish its term.

One of the politicians who met Thaksin in Dubai was Puea Thai MP for Samut Prakan Pracha Prasopdee.

He said yesterday that Thaksin predicted the government would fall next year, as political and economic problems caught up with it. The coalition, he said, would probably disintegrate amid internal conflicts.

However, Thaksin did not rule out the possibility of the coalition government completing its term.

In that case, Thaksin told the Puea Thai MPs to prepare a censure debate against the government, according to Mr Pracha.

Meanwhile, Democrat MPs Wirat Kalayasiri and Boonyod Sukthinthai yesterday accused Puea Thai MP Apiwant Wiriyachai, a deputy house speaker, of inappropriate conduct, and called on him to step down.

According to the Democrats, Col Apiwant joined a red shirt protest in Samut Prakan province last week and used verbal profanity to attack privy councillor Surayud Chulanont and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

He also referred "inappropriately" to Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda, whom the UDD accuses of being behind the Sept 19, 2006 coup.

The Democrats also criticised Col Apiwant for skipping a parliamentary session on Nov 13 to travel to Cambodia to meet Thaksin.

27/11/2009
Aekarach Sattaburuth
Bangkok Post

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Thai PM cancels trip to Thaksin stronghold on security fears

Thailand's prime minister announced Thursday that he had cancelled a visit to a northern stronghold of his rival, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, owing to security concerns.

Abhisit Vejjajiva was set to travel to the northern city of Chiang Mai for a commerce meeting on Sunday, but decided against the trip after receiving death threats, despite initially downplaying the security risk.

The cancellation highlights the political instability faced by Thailand, which has been wracked by rival street protests for months.

Chiang Mai is a stronghold for Thaksin loyalists, known as Red Shirts, who want to see the former leader return from his self-imposed exile as he dodges a jail term for corruption.

One of the leading Red Shirts reportedly used his radio show earlier this month to threaten Abhisit with a car bomb when he visited the city.

"The Thai Chamber of Commerce wanted me to go there to hear a report of their meetings but they were concerned about a clash and decided to give me the report here, which I have no problem with," Abhisit told reporters.

"I'm confident I would be safe if I went but there is a possibility of a clash. I will go at the next appropriate time," he said.

A Thai TV channel reported Thursday that police had found guns and thousands of small explosive devices in table-tennis balls in a Red Shirt's house in Chiang Mai, but police refused to comment on this when contacted by AFP.

Supporters of billionaire Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006, say Abhisit's government is illegitimate as it came to power after a controversial court ruling that forced Thaksin's allies from office.

Some 1,500 police were sent to guard Abhisit last weekend as he toured the three northern provinces of Sukhothai, Phitsanulok and Phichit, to inspect government works.

Red Shirts had been set to hold five days of rallies in Bangkok from Saturday, but they were cancelled after Thaksin said the protests were too close to the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 82nd birthday on December 5.

In April, Thaksin's followers forced the cancellation of a major Asian summit in the coastal city of Pattaya and then rioted in Bangkok for two days, leaving two people dead.

AP

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Tea Banh slams red shirts

The Thai-Cambodian diplomatic row grew more complicated yesterday when Phnom Penh Defence Minister Tea Banh strongly criticised a Thai red-shirt leader for "making up" a story about a secret tape involving the Thai foreign minister. Tea Banh and Cambodia's Foreign Ministry yesterday rejected the claim by Jatuporn Promphan that Cambodian officials had taped a phone conversation between Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and a diplomat in Phnom Penh over former PM Thaksin Shinawatra's flight plan.

"I think the one who made claims about the tape just did it for kicks [or] probably had a hidden agenda of drumming things up to the point of war between the two countries," Tea Banh told Kom Chad Luek in a telephone interview. "This could make Cambodia end up being a scapegoat."

He said the armed forces of both countries had been on good terms and were in constant communication, sharing information.

Cambodia's Foreign Ministry also flatly denied existence of any secret tape.

"The Foreign Ministry of Cambodia is not aware of the interception of a telephone conversation between the Thai minister and the diplomat. We don't do such things," Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman Koy Kuong told The Nation in a telephone interview from Phnom Penh.

Jatuporn, an MP with the opposition Pheu Thai Party, claimed Cambodian authorities had recorded a phone conversation when Kasit ordered first secretary at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh Kamrob Palawatwichai to get details of Thaksin's flights.

Kasit challenged Jatuporn yesterday to make the audio recording public to prove the claim. "Is the job of opposition MPs tapping phones or serving Cambodia? If my voice is on a secret tape, I'm dying to hear it."

Jatuporn had dug in before the Cambodian denial. "Cambodia is waiting for a reaction from Thailand. I believe they will play it soon, so let's wait to hear it from there," he said yesterday. "Thai people and the world should know the truth."

Kasit insisted the conflict with Cambodia had erupted when Pheu Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh visited Phnom Penh last month and Cambodian premier Hun Sen later appointed Thaksin as his economic adviser.

However, Jatuporn's claims implied the high point of the conflict - the arrest of Thai engineer Siwarak Chotipong for alleged spying - stemmed from instructions from the Thai Foreign Ministry.

Siwarak, an engineer at Cambodia Air Traffic Service (CATS) was detained last week for obtaining details of Thaksin's flight plan and allegedly taking it to a Thai diplomat, who was subsequently expelled from Phnom Penh.

Siwarak is being detained in a Phnom Penh prison pending a trial, according to Cambodia's spokesman Koy Kuong, who said the Thai was being treated in accordance with Cambodian legal processes.

His trial will start soon, he said, but declined to give an exact date.

Cambodian authorities have taken temporary control of CATS, a subsidiary of the Thai company Samart Corp, barring Thai staff from doing their jobs.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday ordered the Foreign Ministry to seek ways to protect the Thai business concession.

Kasit said the aviation navigation business operated under Cambodian investment law and could not be nationalised easily.

November 20, 2009
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee,
Veena Chanreung
The Nation, Kom Chad Luek

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[Thai] PM: Cambodia, Jatuporn sharing info

The Cambodian government and opposition Puea Thai Party MP Jatuporn Prompan could be sharing information, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Thursday.

United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) core member Jatuporn earlier claimed that he had an audio tape of Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya ordering the Thai embassy's first secretary, Kamrob Palawatwichai, to find out Thaksin's flight schedule.

"I believe Mr Jatuporn and Cambodia have constantly been in contact. I hope the person behind this will regain a sense of conscience and won't trade off the country's interests to Cambodia," the prime minister said.

"If Thaksin crosses the border into Thailand through the Northeast, he must be face his punishment if the law is to be preserved."

He said the government had no intention of playing political games with the red-shirts, and he was confident the UDD's anti-government rallies would not turn violent.

"I believe the UDD's plan to topple the government by Dec 3 will not succeed, because people want peace," he said. "The government will evaluate the situation again before deciding whether to apply the Internal Security Act during the protests."

Bangkok Post

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UDD changes rally schedule

The mass anti-government rally by the United front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) will start one day sooner than previously planned and will run from Nov 28 to Dec 2, Natthawut Saikua, a UDD core leader, said on Thursday.

Another UDD leader, Jatuporn Promphan, had said on Wednesday that the red-shirts' rally to demand the government immediately call a general election would run from Nov 29 to Dec 3.

Mr Natthawut said red-shirts would gather at the Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnern road from about midday on Nov 28, and would stay there overnight.

On Nov 29, after the armed forces had finished their military parade rehearsal, UDD supporters would regroup at the Misakawan intersection and stay overnight in the area. On Nov 30, the red-shirts would rally against the government at various key roads in Bangkok and after that they would regroup at the intersection.

Mr Natthawut said the red-shirts would peacefully disperse in the early morning of Dec 2. The demonstrations would be peaceful and without weapons.

“If the government fails to bend to the UDD’s demand, the red-shirts will return and take to the streets again after the celebration of His Majesty the King’s 82nd birthday anniversary on Dec 5.

"That demonstration will continue until the demand is met,” the UDD leader said.

Bangkok Post

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Thai Opinion: Undeserving of increment

Skipping parliamentary meetings without valid and proper reason by members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, has of late become so frequent that such dereliction of duty is threatening to render the legislature dysfunctional.

For the past 11 months, six House meetings and four joint Senate-House meetings were abruptly called off for the simple reason that the number of MPs and senators present at those meetings was not enough to make a quorum. Of all the incidents, the most shameful took place last Friday, when about 60 opposition Puea Thai MPs left for Phnom Penh to meet fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was in the Cambodian capital to give a lecture to that country's senior government officials and top businessmen as part of his new job as economic adviser to the Cambodian government. It was reported that some of the Puea Thai MPs submitted their leave forms while the rest did not and simply left.

Although the blame for the cancellation of last Friday's meeting was as much attributable to the departure for Cambodia of a large group of Puea Thai MPs as was the absence of scores of government MPs, the conduct of the opposition lawmakers in abandoning their job just to meet their beloved leader, was most unbecoming and irresponsible.

Lacking a quorum to hold parliamentary meetings due to the high incidence of absenteeism among senators and MPs is only part of the disturbing story about the despicable conduct of some of our legislators, who ironically have the audacity to address themselves as "honourable" members of parliament. This also testifies to the failure or complete incompetence of the whips, especially of the government camp, to rein in their MPs to ensure there is always a quorum to enable a meeting to proceed uninterrupted.

But even among those who are present at the meetings, the performance of many has at best been below par. Quite often MPs are seen dozing off or ogling at girlie magazines while their colleagues are busy debating an issue. There are also others who seem to enjoy heckling to interrupt their political opponents and draw silly laughter from colleagues.

Granted there are indeed responsible and efficient lawmakers in both the government and opposition camps, but the bad apples among them appear to have spoiled the whole basket and given the reputation of the legislature a bad name. With the unpleasant behaviour of so many lawmakers, the recent decision by the government to increase the pay and fringe benefits for both senators and MPs defies common sense and constitutes an insult to the taxpayers. For example, the monthly pay of a senator or an MP will be adjusted by 9.3% from 62,000 baht to 67,790 baht plus an additional monthly pay of 42,330 baht.

There is no justification whatsoever for the government to adjust the pay for both senators and MPs. Economically, the 9% adjustment is not in proportion with the inflation rate, which is likely to remain at 1.4% throughout the year as predicted by the Bank of Thailand. Performance-wise, the two houses have failed to impress, the House in particular, in the wake of the controversial journey to Cambodia by the group of Puea Thai MPs at the expense of the cancellation of a House meeting. Unless the senators and particularly the MPs show more responsibility and improve their performance, they do not deserve even a minimal pay rise. Instead, those who fail to perform and those who act irresponsibly deserve to have their pay slashed.

Bangkok Post

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UDD [Thai Red Shirt] plans million-strong protest

The United front for Democracy against Dictatorship expects one million red-shirts will turn out for a mass anti-government demonstration to bring down the government, planned from Nov 29 to Dec 3, UDD core leader Jatuporn Promphan said on Tuesday.

“It will be a five-day gathering of at least one million red-shirts and we will make the war against the government as short as possible. The red-shirts will not lay siege to Government House or other state offices,'' said MrJatuporn.

UDD leaders were not worried about the strong possibility the government will again invoke the Internal Security Act to deal with the protesters, he said.

“If one million red-shirts turn out as expected, we will be able to topple the government. But if we cannot make it, we will return to the streets again after Dec 5, His Majesty the King’s 82nd birthday,” the UDD leader said.

He believed the UDD could achieve its objective to topple the government before the end of the year because there were problems of corruption in several ministries and prices of agricultural products were low. The government had only one option left — dissolve the House and call elections.

''This time, either UDD or the government must go'', he said. ''The government should not be allowed to celebrate the New Year festival.”

Bangkok Post

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45 local red-shirt leaders cross border to meet Thaksin in Cambodia

A total of 45 local red-shirt leaders from Nakhon Ratchasima Wednesday crossed the border at a checkpoint in Si Sa Ket to meet fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in Siem Reap.

Thaksin is scheduled to visit Siem Reap Thursday after giving a special lecture to some 300 Cambodian Finance Ministry officials.

The 45 red-shirt leaders crossed the border at 1 pm.

The Nation

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