BANGKOK: During his first five years as Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra and his pro-business, modernising government enjoyed a smooth ride through everything from bird flu to the tsunami.
But as the telecoms tycoon and self-styled ‘CEO premier’ embarks on a sixth year in office, a chorus of critics from graft-busters to ex-business partners and anti-privatization campaigners are making his life increasingly difficult.
Fighting rearguard actions on so many public relations fronts, Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party will have little time in the coming months and years to get on with the business of government, analysts say.
Few independent analysts believe he will not complete the remaining three years of his second term, but they see Friday’s session with 100 academics on constitutional reform as typical of the appeasement tactics he will need to deploy.
“The government has become a lame duck as Thaksin has lost his integrity of leadership,” said political and investment analyst Somjai Phagapasvivat of Bangkok’s Thammasat University.
“He will be busy keeping the lid on big holes, closing down on all constitutional channels to dismiss him,” Somjai said.
“He won’t have much time left for the economy.”
One major headache is a vocal backlash from the Bangkok middle-classes over his family’s $1.9 billion, tax-free sell-off of their stake in Shin Corp, the telecoms empire he founded, to Singapore state investment company Temasek.
He won a let-off on Thursday when the Constitutional Court refused to launch a probe into the controversial share sale.
But he is far from out of the woods.
Two weeks ago, vengeful former business partner and media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul amassed a crowd of 40,000 people — the biggest anti-government demonstration in 14 years — calling for Thaksin to stand down. A repeat protest a week later drew 20,000 to central Bangkok, and Sondhi has vowed to keep going until Thaksin is out of Government House.—Reuters
