Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that authorities are trying unsuccessfully to muzzle Thaksin Shinawatra, the fugitive ousted leader who is reigniting the country’s political crisis as he roams the world.
Thaksin has become the prime attraction at protests that started last week outside the prime minister’s office, speaking via video link from abroad and firing up supporters with calls for nationwide protests.
“The government is trying to block the call-ins but cannot do more than the law permits,” Abhisit told a gathering of leaders from his Democrat Party.
“We are also trying to get him back to the country,” he said.
Abhisit has rejected the protesters’ calls for his resignation, but analysts say Thaksin has sounded a “war cry” and his strength should not be underestimated. The protests that started on Thursday are the largest since Abhisit took power in December.
Thaksin was deposed by a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption and abuse of power, setting off a political crisis and a tug-of-war between his supporters and opponents. Thaksin fled into exile last year before a court convicted him in absentia of violating a conflict of interest law, and he has publicly taunted authorities ever since.
The one-time tycoon who turned to politics remains popular with the poor rural majority that benefited from his populist policies and has managed to address supporters by telephone or video link from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and most recently Africa, aides said.
“I call on you to rise up across the country,” Thaksin told about 30,000 protesters on Saturday.
“You don’t need to come to Bangkok, but rally in peace throughout the country to say that we cherish democracy,” said Thaksin, his image on a giant screen outside Government House, which he occupied for six years as prime minister.
Thitinan Pongsidhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, said Thaksin’s messages showed he was determined to take his political battle to a new level.
“In terms of rallying the troops, it was a war cry,” Thitinan said. “Despite the passage of time and distance, the support Thaksin has in the countryside is still potent. Last night he activated that support.”
At another protest on Friday night, Thaksin dropped what Thai media called a “bombshell,” accusing the chief adviser to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the country’s revered constitutional monarch, of being a mastermind of the 2006 coup and undermining Thai democracy.
The comments shocked Thailand, where the king’s Privy Council is considered by many an extension of the king himself, who is widely adored and protected from reproach by strict laws.
Privy Council head Prem Tinsulanonda has not publicly responded to the allegations, which other members of the council have denied.
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
The US deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by China Coast Guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight “ and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.” Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,