Thailand’s main international airport continued to clear a backlog of stranded tourists yesterday while the abrupt return of exiled Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s powerful ex-wife threatened to deepen the country’s political crisis.
The reopening of the airports, still partially crippled after a weeklong siege by protesters, had raised hopes the country was emerging from the chaos of the past months. However, many Thais were also following with trepidation the health of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, regarded as crucial to the country’s stability.
The palace announced on Friday night that he was suffering from an inflamed throat and fluctuating fever after he failed to give his annual birthday address.
PHOTO: AP
Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport — Thailand’s main gateway to the world — officially reopened on Friday after protesters ended a weeklong siege that trapped more than 300,000 travelers. The occupation of the capital’s two airports by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) dealt a heavy blow to tourism.
The airport was operating at about 50 percent capacity on Friday, but a public relations official at the airport said yesterday that most international flights were now back on schedule.
“Flights to Asia are now operating in full gear. But there are a few airlines that are still checking their systems to ensure safety,” said the official, who demanded anonymity because she was not authorized to speak with the press.
The return to Bangkok on Friday of Thaksin’s ex-wife, Pojamarn Damapong, who faces a three-year jail term on a tax evasion conviction, added a complicating element to the political crisis. Thaksin, ousted in a 2006 military coup, remains at the epicenter of instability.
Thai media speculated Pojamarn might rally the ex-leader’s supporters following a court decision that dissolved the ruling political party made up of his allies and drove the prime minister from office.
But a spokesman for the ex-prime minister, Pongthep Thepkanchana, said Pojamarn had returned solely to visit her sick mother “not to manage the problems among factions in the party.”
A number of members of ousted Thai prime minister Somchai Wongsawat’s People Power Party have regrouped in a new party, Pheua Thai, and they retain the right to name a new prime minister within 30 days.
Local media said that the party would meet today to put forward a leader amid behind-the-scenes scurrying among several parties and factions.
Any move to reinstate Thaksin’s allies would likely set off more protests from the anti-government alliance, which charges that the party and the recently toppled government is merely a front for Thaksin.
The ousted prime minister and his ex-wife, a highly influential figure during his years in power, are hated by many of the country’s elite, who charge that they were trying to usurp royal authority. Their divorce is widely regarded as a ploy to reduce each party’s legal liability and preserve the family fortune, made in telecommunications.
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