Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday returned to the kingdom after 15 years in exile and was immediately jailed, just hours before his party’s candidate was elected prime minister.
The Supreme Court ordered the 74-year-old billionaire to serve eight years on old graft charges, although it is not clear how much time he would serve behind bars, as his Pheu Thai party forms a government and rumors swirl of a deal for leniency.
Thaksin, loved and loathed in almost equal measure in Thailand, landed in a private jet at Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport yesterday morning, and was greeted by hundreds of “Red Shirt” supporters waving banners and singing songs.
Photo: EPA-EFE
He emerged briefly to bow and offer a floral garland at a portrait of King Maha Vajiralongkorn as a mark of respect before waving to supporters.
More Red Shirts lined the streets as the former Manchester City owner was taken to the Supreme Court. There he was ordered to serve eight years for three convictions passed in his absence — one linked to his former Shin Corp, another linked to a bank loan and a lottery case.
Just hours after he landed, parliament approved business tycoon Srettha Thavisin as prime minister at the head of a coalition led by the Pheu Thai party.
Photo: AFP
“I will try my best and work tirelessly to improve the quality of life for Thai people,” Srettha told reporters after he was confirmed as the kingdom’s 30th prime minister.
Pheu Thai’s controversial alliance includes parties from its old enemies in the military — which ousted both Thaksin and his sister Yingluck as prime minister.
This has led to widespread speculation of a backroom arrangement with Thailand’s powerful pro-military royalist establishment to let Thaksin off lightly — although Pheu Thai has denied such a deal.
Thaksin is to spend his first days in prison in isolation because of health problems, but his family would be able to visit him after five days, the Department of Corrections said.
Asked about the possibility of a royal pardon, Department of Corrections Deputy Director Sithi Suthiwong told reporters Thaksin could apply, and the process would take “about one to two months, if the documents are sufficient.”
Srettha sailed through the confirmation ballot in parliament with 482 votes in favor to 165 against and 81 abstentions.
His victory ends three months of political deadlock and wrangling after MFP beat Pheu Thai into second place in May’s polls.
Despite winning the most seats, Move Forward Party (MFP) leader Pita Limjaroenrat saw his bid to become prime minister sunk by conservative junta-appointed senators, who were spooked by his party’s determination to reform royal insult laws and tackle business monopolies.
After Srettha’s confirmation, Pita pledged on social media that the MFP would work in opposition to be “the political institution that people can trust.”
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary