Exiled former Thai premier Thakin Shinawatra denounced his opponents Saturday in a telephone address to 90,000 loyal supporters packed into a Bangkok sports stadium. Speaking from an undisclosed location, Thaksin thanked the crowd but told them he could not return to the kingdom from exile in Britain without a royal pardon after he was sentenced to two years in prison on corruption charges last month. Thaksin went on to verbally attack the generals who overthrew him in a September 2006 military coup, to wild cheers from the crowd.
Thaksin fled to Britain in early August following his wife's conviction for tax evasion. It was his first address to supporters since leaving the kingdom and being sentenced in absentia on October 21 to two years in jail for violating corruption laws. Several other corruption cases are outstanding against him. About 90,000 of his fans, clad in red shirts signalling their pro-government stance, gathered at Rajamangala sports stadium in Bangkok's eastern outskirts, raising fears of clashes with rival protesters. An army colonel told AFP that more than 2,000 troops were on standby in case the police required their assistance, but there were no signs of trouble. Chaturon Chaisang, former leader of Thaksin's now-disbanded Thai Rak Thai party, earlier took to the stadium's stage to denounce the People's Alliance for Democracy, who have been holding anti-government rallies since May. Thai society is split between those who love or loathe Thaksin.
Fans of the twice-elected multi-millionaire, calling themselves the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), come mostly from the country's majority rural poor and say they are upholding democracy. His detractors, represented by the PAD, have occupied the grounds of the prime minister's offices since August calling for the government to step down. They claim the PPP, which was elected in December last year, is running the country on behalf of Thaksin, whom they accuse of corruption and nepotism. PAD held protests before the 2006 coup. The return to power of Thaksin's allies angered the PAD and the old military and bureaucratic power elite in the palace. Crowds of PAD supporters descended on the British embassy on Thursday to demand Britain extradites Thaksin, who still faces trial on many other corruption charges. Thailand's current prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat -- Thaksin's brother-in-law -- has been under increasing pressure to resign since bloody clashes on October 7 between PAD supporters and police left two people dead and nearly 500 others injured.
Somchai, visiting Chiang Mai, told reporters earlier he was concerned about clashes between protesters on Saturday and urged both sides to be peaceful. But PAD organiser Suriyasai Katasila said the group would not confront the pro-government rally. [End of report]
The saga in Thailand doesnt seem like it will ever end does it? If you have been reading my blog and my previous posts about the situation in Thailand, I think you would know that Im a huge fan of Thaksin when he was still the Prime Minister and I am still a huge fan of his now. Therefore it is understandable when I heard the news that he was sentenced to two years in prison for violating conflict of interest laws while in office by Thailand Supreme Court. Now, Im not sure how or when he is expected to return to Thailand to serve his sentence, because he is still now in Britain. It remains to be seen how London will respond to the ruling, but as far as Thaksin is concerned, he is saying that he cannot return to the country and I have to agree with him. I think he has been wrongly accused and he is just an innocent victim of the conspiracy that is currently going on in the country, plotted by his enemies of course. Now Im not sure whether they had anything to do with the sentence or not, but Im sure they will be very happy with the news. Ever since Thaksin was still in power, his enemies have been trying to get rid of him and saying things about him which are completely wrong in order to give the impression that he is a bad guy in the eyes of the Thai people.
I strongly believe he did a great job when he was still the Prime Minister, a lot of people like him. He managed to close the gap between the poor and the rich, and everywhere he go, there will always be huge crowd cheering for him which is why he was overwhelmingly elected as the prime minister twice. The people made the decision so I find it crazy that they are now blaming him for all the country's problem. If he hadn't done a great job in his first term, then he shouldnt have been the Prime Minister for the second time. Now lets just say he actually did some things which he shouldnt have done as the PM, then of course he deserved to get booted out which is what happened with the military coup. They then had another election and they chose Samak to lead. Samak hadn't done anything wrong either when suddenly people are saying he is running the country as a proxy for Thaksin. I mean how can that be when Thaksin is so far away at Britain, busy looking after his football club, when he was still the owner of Manchester City. His enemies is trying to create all kinds of stories to punish Thaksin because they didnt get into power which I think is wrong. If they want to blame somebody, they should blame themselves for not doing enough to get the support from the majority of the people, not Thaksin or anyone else who have some link with him.
I was really glad to see that Thaksin still have some support from many people in the country. You just have to see the crowd at the stadium when Thaksin addressed them through the video call. If I was in Bangkok, I would have gone there too to show Thaksin that he still have my support. I really feel sorry for him. Everything is going wrong for him at the moment and it is not even his fault. I really hope that one day, the Thai people will get to see the truth and realize that Thaksin is not guilty of those charges and that he is just another victim of a political struggle that is happening in the country.
*The report was taken from AFP.
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