Former Thai PM Thaksin: "I'm Calling It Quits"

[Jai Dee]

Former Thai PM Thaksin: "I'm Calling It Quits"

Since he was toppled from power last September, Thaksin Shinawatra has been crisscrossing the globe. TIME's Southeast Asia Bureau Chief Hannah Beech caught up with Thailand's former Prime Minister on Jan. 25 in Tokyo, where they spoke about the military coup against him, the new regime in Bangkok, and what he intends to do with his life.

Read the interview here.

[sriracha john]

Afterwards, Thaksin went outside, removed his jacket, and announced his plans to some assembled Thai students:

* Disclaimer: If you look closely, that's not the same Thaksin tie. *

Edited February 2, 2007 by sriracha john

[ovenman]

Former Thai PM Thaksin: "I'm Calling It Quits"

How many times has Mr Big called it quits since early-2006? Reminds me of some aging rock star setting out yet again on his umpteenth final tour.

[Mid]

and who else needs a pr firm to quit ...............................................................

[Jai Dee]

Deposed PM wishes to help restore peace to deep south

Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra told the Time magazine that he wanted to help bring reconciliation to the deep south of Thailand if he eventually returned home.

In his interview with the Time magazine's Feb 1 edition, Thaksin said he could help with the government's bid to heal the country.

"If you want to have national reconciliation, it's like clapping hands. If you try to clap with one hand, and take another hand far away, is it possible? You have to bring that hand back. I have quit politics, don't worry, but I want to help with reconciliation,"

Thaksin government's tough policies in dealing with the violence in the south have been blamed for deaths of over 2,000 people, mostly in extra-judicial killings.

Since his ousting from the government in September last year, Thaksin has been trotting around the globe to give interviews to foreign media, attacking the military junta and new government.

In the interview with the Time in Tokyo last week, he jokingly said he is forming a new party, the Enjoy Life Party. "The new Enjoy Life Party's platform? Playing golf, traveling, relaxing, meeting friends. Don't be too serious about life."

He said he has reacquainted himself with the pleasures of golf—at least until conditions in Beijing, where he spends much of his time, got so icy his bodyguard couldn't put the tee into the ground.

He said he lost some weight because he did yoga, but not because he felt grievances. He said was very relaxed. He said, "Thanks to the CNS for this, so I can retire," he said. "After being ousted, I had a very good excuse to quit politics."

Thaksin also commented on the coup that toppled him, saying at first the people were shocked and then started to voice their concerns.

"And then they start to accept it, especially after it's endorsed by His Majesty the King. They're very disciplined. They obey. But they are watching what [the new rulers] are doing, and when they will return democracy to the people. People's tolerance is limited."

Source: The Nation - 2 February 2007

[Donnyboy]

Deposed PM wishes to help restore peace to deep south

Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra told the Time magazine that he wanted to help bring reconciliation to the deep south of Thailand if he eventually returned home.

In his interview with the Time magazine's Feb 1 edition, Thaksin said he could help with the government's bid to heal the country.

"If you want to have national reconciliation, it's like clapping hands. If you try to clap with one hand, and take another hand far away, is it possible? You have to bring that hand back. I have quit politics, don't worry, but I want to help with reconciliation," Thaksin, have you started a new job to be a comedian?

Thaksin government's tough policies in dealing with the violence in the south have been blamed for deaths of over 2,000 people, mostly in extra-judicial killings.

Since his ousting from the government in September last year, Thaksin has been trotting around the globe to give interviews to foreign media, attacking the military junta and new government.

In the interview with the Time in Tokyo last week, he jokingly said he is forming a new party, the Enjoy Life Party. "The new Enjoy Life Party's platform? Playing golf, traveling, relaxing, meeting friends. Don't be too serious about life." Perhaps the HQ could be at the Bangkok Hilton.

He said he has reacquainted himself with the pleasures of golf—at least until conditions in Beijing, where he spends much of his time, got so icy his bodyguard couldn't put the tee into the ground.

He said he lost some weight because he did yoga, but not because he felt grievances. He said was very relaxed. He said, "Thanks to the CNS for this, so I can retire," he said. "After being ousted, I had a very good excuse to quit politics."

Thaksin also commented on the coup that toppled him, saying at first the people were shocked and then started to voice their concerns.

"And then they start to accept it, especially after it's endorsed by His Majesty the King. They're very disciplined. They obey. But they are watching what [the new rulers] are doing, and when they will return democracy to the people. People's tolerance is limited." and thats why there was a coup to topple you........to quote "enough is enough"

Source: The Nation - 2 February 2007

Edited February 2, 2007 by Donnyboy

[ChiangMaiAmerican]

From the article:

"OPEN UP: Thailand needs a freer market, says Thaksin"

Flashback to 2002. From TRT member and Khon Kaen MP Premsak Pearyura, Chairman of the

Parliamentary Committee on Labor:

""Most of the foreigners are small investors who take work from Thais. We should have big investors who don't negatively affect Thais," said MP Premsak.

His views were met with overwhelming support from the 150 people at the meeting, drawn from memberships in the Chamber of Commerce; the Phuket Tourism Association; the Thai Hotels Association, Southern Chapter; the Phuket Guide Association and the Phuket Chapter of the Federation of Thai Industries."

http://www.phuketgazette.net/news/index.as...yes&Id=2388

Note: To my knowledge Thaksin did not renounce this MP for being anti foreign business.

Thaksin is still pandering this time to the foreign business community. I guess he expects people to forget a member of his party was in Phuket a few years ago trying to whip the crowd into a frenzy over foreigners owning small businesses in Thailand. Unfortunately the new government appears to be carrying on a similiar policy. Note the player from the Thai business community haven't changed either.

Edited February 2, 2007 by ChiangMaiAmerican

[John K]

Ok Thaksin says he quits again, in most cases that means something should pop in the news about him again in about 72 hours or so that reflects the opposite.

[johnh101]

At any rate, corruption will not go away in Thailand—it's in the system.

Straight from the horses mouth........an admission of guilt, well, not quite.

[sriracha john]

More from Time:

Acknowledging that his suit was hanging a little loose over his frame, Thaksin explains: "I've lost weight because I have time to do yoga, not because I feel grievances. I'm very relaxed."

Indeed, the former PM expresses gratitude toward the generals who removed him from power and formed the ruling Council for National Security (CNS). "Thanks to the CNS for this, so I can retire," says Thaksin, with a grin. "After being ousted, I had a very good excuse to quit politics."

[Tony Clifton]

"Former Thai PM Thaksin: "I'm Calling It Quits"

He's said it so many times now that he's beat me to the amount of time I've promised to quit smoking.

Deposed PM wishes to help restore peace to deep south

Quite a statement for a man who would be lynched within minutes of setting foot down there.

Edited February 2, 2007 by Tony Clifton

[younghusband]

At any rate, corruption will not go away in Thailand—it's in the system.

Straight from the horses mouth........an admission of guilt, well, not quite.

You're quite right.It was a hatefully complacent comment and reminded me, much though I dislike this junta, why I hope Thaksin never returns (though I fear he will eventually)

[sriracha john]

"Former Thai PM Thaksin: "I'm Calling It Quits"

He's said it so many times now

"Enough is Enough" of "Calling it Quits"

[ColPyat]

At any rate, corruption will not go away in Thailand—it's in the system.

Straight from the horses mouth........an admission of guilt, well, not quite.

You're quite right.It was a hatefully complacent comment and reminded me, much though I dislike this junta, why I hope Thaksin never returns (though I fear he will eventually)

But the matter of fact is that he is probably right with this comment.

Corruption will not go away unless there have many developments taken place here, such a more equal power and wealth distribution, such as more possibilities of upward mobility within Thai society, such as a breaking up, or softening of the archaic patron/client system.

Thaksin of course was not the solution, but the military is even less so. The only solution is a steady climb towards a functioning democracy, and acceptance of occasional hick ups like Thaksin.

[hammered]

Interesting day. Thaksin emphatically insists he is quitting. Sonthi reportedly announces that the TRT will probably be disolved. The Liptapanlop's look like they will now leave TRT and run in the Isaan against another fomer TRT faction. Is his finally some movement signifying a deal is on the cards?

[John K]

Well we should probably change from reacting to his (coming up on 10 month old) I quit statement and try to predict what he will do that says I do not quit, that is much more of a challenge.

[hammered]

Well we should probably change from reacting to his (coming up on 10 month old) I quit statement and try to predict what he will do that says I do not quit, that is much more of a challenge.

Or maybe we should be looking forward instead of back all the time. I am personally not sure that all the Thaksin obsession is actually doing the country a lot of good. The court cases can be worked through, and when he reuturns the situation can be assessed. In the meantime just creating anti-Thaksin like some form of anti-matter probably doesnt result in a forward movement at all. That seems unfortunate to me as the one thing thing about binning a constitution is that it actually gives you a chance to replace it with something better. However if everyone is just faixated on Mr. T from either love or hatred there will not be too much tim being spent on carefully considering what will actually benefit the country.

[Plus]

How can you not concentrate on a guy who gets himself on frontpages everyday? If it's not him, he has a clown in oversized suit to represent him.

I think all Thaksin wants now is a stronger negotiating position when his assets will be under hammer.

"You get off my back, and I'll stop talking"

[hammered]

How can you not concentrate on a guy who gets himself on frontpages everyday? If it's not him, he has a clown in oversized suit to represent him.

I think all Thaksin wants now is a stronger negotiating position when his assets will be under hammer.

"You get off my back, and I'll stop talking"

And of course the chattering and politcal classes do concentrate on him. My point is that it is not a very good idea when there is the future of the country to think about and he is both deposed and out of the country. Of course I agree that he is concerned about his negotiating position but a deal will be done and is probably being done right now. That still leaves the future of the country to map out in a new constitution, which is happening right now, but instaed of having an open debate over this many intellectuals, journos etc seem to rather want to talk about Mr. T.

[John K]

I agree with you on getting better posture to negotiate, but I think he is setting a stage for using some form of propaganda in reuniting the country. Perhaps some small services in his name using them as a front for his real plan. He has made mention of reuniting the country, and I think the PR agency he hired would suggest a feel good campaign of sorts. If the government was seen dismantling something that at least on the outside looks good for the country, who looks bad and who looks good.

[Sing_Sling]

"Well, I'm not a crook."

"We will find those weapons of mass destruction"

"I am retiring from politics and want to help my country. "

Gee, doesn't matter how you slice it and dice it . . . still smells of bullshi!

Edited February 2, 2007 by Sing_Sling

[altman]

Deposed PM wishes to help restore peace to deep south

Source: The Nation - 2 February 2007

after killing more of his countrymen than GWB, half of them in the south, he NOW has a solution???!!

:D

[blaze]

Well we should probably change from reacting to his (coming up on 10 month old) I quit statement and try to predict what he will do that says I do not quit, that is much more of a challenge.

Or maybe we should be looking forward instead of back all the time. I am personally not sure that all the Thaksin obsession is actually doing the country a lot of good. The court cases can be worked through, and when he reuturns the situation can be assessed. In the meantime just creating anti-Thaksin like some form of anti-matter probably doesnt result in a forward movement at all. That seems unfortunate to me as the one thing thing about binning a constitution is that it actually gives you a chance to replace it with something better. However if everyone is just faixated on Mr. T from either love or hatred there will not be too much tim being spent on carefully considering what will actually benefit the country.

Fully agree Hammered- but the current regime exists for one reason only: it is a response to the evils visited upon the country by Taksin. Who as yet, has not been charged with, let alone convicted of a single offense. By keeping the anti Taksin obession bubbling the big winners are, of course, the military. They must know full well that rumor and allegation, repeated often enough, becomes in the minds of many, fact.

While they may be polite enough to refer (often) to 'the old elite' instead of Taksin by name, the media has no such qualms- and in its demand for the gov't to lower the boom on Takky and fast, the gov't comes out looking pretty liberal- which plays well with those more sympathetic to the ex.

Much better for them that the press stay focused on Takky - than to shift its scrutiny their way. One article in a local media countering the interpretation of events presented in a foreign magazine/newspaper/tv interview- is the best PR that this government could hope for. And every time Takky shoots his mouth off to foreigners- a wave of pro-junta sentiment sweeps through the better groomed sois of Bangkok. When he makes a statement implying (for example) that the Thais are corrupt almost by nature- and when he makes that statement to the outside world- even the most died in the wool TRT hack, is roused to sympathize with the junta.

As GW's mouth has done more to prolong an uprising against the Mullahs in Iran, Takky could actually be providing the unification that he claims to want. Against him. And surely that fact is not lost on the government.

Edited February 2, 2007 by blaze

[Plus]

In the eyes of junta supporters Thaksin should be jailed and his assets impounded, they don't need any extra proof from Thai judicial system, they've seen enough. Virtually NO ONE believes that Thaksin is truly innocent, not even his supporters.

The junta itself can't talk about the future unless the ghost has been exorcised, they need to show that Thaksin has gone for good. Bureaucrats are far more afraid of retribution from Thaksin than of displeasing the generals, generals are here for less than a year, who'll protect them after that?

[britmaveric]

Calling it quits for now.

[John K]

In the eyes of junta supporters Thaksin should be jailed and his assets impounded, they don't need any extra proof from Thai judicial system, they've seen enough. Virtually NO ONE believes that Thaksin is truly innocent, not even his supporters.

The junta itself can't talk about the future unless the ghost has been exorcised, they need to show that Thaksin has gone for good. Bureaucrats are far more afraid of retribution from Thaksin than of displeasing the generals, generals are here for less than a year, who'll protect them after that?

They need to stop playing Thaksin’s hide the paper trail game. I don’t think there would be much objection to moving forward with circumstantial evidence. That leaves Thaksin with little option except to run and hide. That would also significantly dampen any anti government fires started by Thaksin cronies. The game needs to be changed to move ahead. As much as I don’t like the idea of circumstantial evidence being used, it does look like one of the limited options the government has to successfully putting an end to all of this.

[blaze]

In the eyes of junta supporters Thaksin should be jailed and his assets impounded, they don't need any extra proof from Thai judicial system, they've seen enough. Virtually NO ONE believes that Thaksin is truly innocent, not even his supporters.

The junta itself can't talk about the future unless the ghost has been exorcised, they need to show that Thaksin has gone for good. Bureaucrats are far more afraid of retribution from Thaksin than of displeasing the generals, generals are here for less than a year, who'll protect them after that?

They need to stop playing Thaksin’s hide the paper trail game. I don’t think there would be much objection to moving forward with circumstantial evidence. That leaves Thaksin with little option except to run and hide. That would also significantly dampen any anti government fires started by Thaksin cronies. The game needs to be changed to move ahead. As much as I don’t like the idea of circumstantial evidence being used, it does look like one of the limited options the government has to successfully putting an end to all of this.

That would be a novel way of ushering in this golden age of transparancy and rule of law.

[Plus]

Well, the generals withstood the temptation, so far. They don't appear to be as bad as their critics paint them.

[sriracha john]

Why we are grateful to Thaksin (again)

It may be too early but the temptations are there. Readers have suggested we'd be better off leaving the man alone and instead looking forward to the country's future despite his world tour lecturing on Thailand. As much as journalists and Thais would love to put everything "Thaksin" behind them and start anew, things keep bringing him back to our thoughts.

Thaksin Shinawatra can be proud of himself. Even though he is out there, he is still doing Thailand favours that he himself might not be able to imagine. My maid is now very keen to learn more about His Majesty the King's sufficiency theory because she feels the prime minister in exile may have attacked it. Football lovers have recently been more interested in the results of the Thailand-Singapore match rather than fixating on the English Premier League and their favourite European teams.

Behind all of these positive changes is the man. And I'm sure many people would like to express gratitude to him.

He is such an inspiration and it will take such a long time before we can completely erase him from our memories. Here are all winners who have gained from his strikes outside of the Kingdom:

The Football Association of Thailand

In an unprecedented first for the Thai national team, Thai fans will throw tremendous support behind them in their second-leg match between Thailand and Singapore final at National Stadium tomorrow. True, we are a football-crazy nation but almost all of this obsession is directed at European, especially English, football.

Who says politics and football don't mix? Think about the World Cup match when Argentina played England during the Falklands dispute. Deep in the fans' hearts, we know that we are all hungry for the victory over Singapore - both to relieve our pain over the ongoing labyrinth of investments that Temasek holdings has in Thailand and to avenge a controversial penalty earlier this week.

To Thai fans, a referee cost us the game, while it was a fine result for Singapore. The controversial penalty added salt to the already wounded Thais. Tomorrow's match sets a record, as tickets for it have already been sold out. Prices have been marked up sky high on the black market as well. Never before has a Thai football match gained the public's attention as much as a European match would.

Sports columnists like Jackie and Bor Boo have allocated space in their columns and put effort into persuading Thai people to fancy the Thai national team for ages but they were hardly able to achieve that goal. Things changed completely after the man came. He simply created an enemy of the state. The Thai team has won the fans it deserves and we will see a sensational match along the lines of the "Red Heat" days when Liverpool played Manchester United.

Sumet Tantivejkul

Many still don't thoroughly understand the sufficiency economy theory and Sumet Tantivejkul, an expert in the theory, is fully booked on the lecture circuit until March. Things could have been worse for him if Thaksin did not touch upon the issue through foreign media. The aftermath of Thaksin's interviews has turned into a very positive trend - the public's awareness is peaking and more experts have risen from the shadows to relieve the burden on Sumet. From the newsroom to my house (my maid was furious the other day, believing Thaksin is against the idea) everybody is very keen on studying and practising this theory.

Academics

Thai and Western academics studying political science will not run out of issues to discuss for the next five years. Should they thank Thaksin for making political science so challenging? Gone are the days when Thailand could simply be grouped alongside Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia as "semi-democracies". Thaksin has opened a new chapter for political scientists. If you want to compare the guy to Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, you could refer to Thaksin's statements to the UN, made in a Mahathir fashion, such as "The UN does not give us rice to eat", and when he called the US an "irritating" and "useless" friend. Despite his similar reaction to human rights, the Malaysian strong man denies strong similarities between himself and Thaksin.

When academics try to follow Thaksin's latest portrayal of himself in the media as the champion of "Western democracy", they will have to go back to the library to look at evidence of his notions of democracy and human rights. After all, he is the same person who, a few years ago, addressed the nation on radio by saying, "Having debates and so many different opinions is just selfishness". He made an even more direct statement concerning his idea of democracy: "Democracy is a good and beautiful thing, but it's not the ultimate goal as far as administering the country is concerned." With twists and turns and blurred stances between being an authoritarian leader on one hand and a champion of democracy on the other, Thaksin has inspired a lot of academics to spend more time in libraries. Mixing and matching his past rhetoric and doctrines has made political science far from dull for academics. And they surely feel grateful.

News media

If there is an abrupt surge in the page views of foreign media outlets like The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and CNN, all Internet editors know who they should say thanks to. As our Website has enjoyed a rise in page views for a similar reason, I'd like to say thanks too. For the Thai public to stay tuned to the news, especially foreign news, is a blessing.

The more I think about it, the more I feel inclined to think that he will continue to do good for the country. All I can say now from the bottom of my heart is: "Thanks for your best wishes for Thailand. And enjoy travelling."

Veena Thoopkrajae

The Nation Opinion Page

[Ricardo]

"Former Thai PM Thaksin: "I'm Calling It Quits"

He's said it so many times now

"Enough is Enough" of "Calling it Quits"

A one-man hub of 'Calling it Quits' ?