Re: BANGKOK: More than 100K at 9pm. Many More Coming. JAMS 50km Long. ArbiSHIT SHITTI
With red shirts on back foot, Thaksin re-emerges
By The Nation
Published on May 3, 2010
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Former premier claims he's not behind the turmoil in Bangkok and maintains he is very loyal to His Majesty in an exclusive telephone interview with Nation Group reporter Naya Jaikawang
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<!-- Google Dtail Ads --> It might have been coincidental, but the timing of
Thaksin Shinawatra to return from his "death" was almost perfect. In a flurry of local and international media interviews, he has unceremoniously repelled continual rumours that he had died last week - and given the
red shirts much needed breathing space.
The public backlash over the Chulalongkorn Hospital invasion had pinned the
red shirts against the ropes, but "Thaksin is alive" may prove sexy enough to distract some from the controversy.
If Thaksin's disappearance from the red shirts' stage - his last video link was on April 9 - was ambiguous, his re-emergence seemed quite out of the blue.
Nation Group reporter Naya Jaikawang did not expect much when she made a phone call to interview
Pheu Thai MP Pracha Prasopdee, one of the MPs closest to Thaksin, to ask him about latest reports that
Thaksin had ordered
Pheu Thai MPs to re-mobilise people to support the anti-government protesters.
Naturally, the topic of "Is
Thaksin still alive" came up. Pracha said he just talked to
Thaksin on Saturday and, unexpectedly, gave Naya his phone number.
At 3pm yesterday, she called the number, without expecting much, and someone "who sounded undoubtedly Thaksin" answered.
"I'm from Nation Group sir," she said. "Can I talk to you?"
"Oh.. of course you can. But my plane is taking off any minute now. Can you call again in a few hours?" the voice said. She agreed and the brief conversation ended.
At 6.50pm, she dutifully called again. The same familiar voice answered.
"Are you Thaksin?" she asked. "Yes I am. And I am not a ghost," he replied.
The man acknowledged that there had been rumours about him since he suspended his video contact with his supporters.
Thaksin said he did not suffer from any disease. "I'm very healthy and have been travelling a lot. My latest health check only yielded a little high cholesterol because I haven't exercised much," he said.
When asked why his family members were wearing black while travelling overseas, he said he had not seen his ex-wife for two years.
The interview came hot on the heels of his talks with international media. In a brief conversation with The Straits Times on Saturday,
Thaksin said he was very much alive and used the same "You are not talking to a ghost" joke. Emerging Markets website on Saturday also published an exclusive telephone interview in which the ousted Thai leader slammed the Abhisit government and said there were too many red-shirts for the Abhisit regime to kill.
Thaksin told Naya he would not propose anything to the government. However, he added: "It would be better if we could change our attitudes and talk together. We should not take advantage of each other and stop treating each other badly."
He also asked the government not to bring the issue of the monarchy into the conflict. "The monarchy is the highest institution for Thai people so the government should not link it to this political fighting," he said.
Thaksin claimed he was not behind the recent bloody turmoil, but he said he was monitoring developments in Thailand closely. He distanced himself from "<leo_highlight style="border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(255, 255, 150); background-color: transparent; background-image: none; background-repeat: repeat; background-attachment: scroll; background-position: 0% 50%; -moz-background-size: auto auto; cursor: pointer; display: inline; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" id="leoHighlights_Underline_0" onclick="leoHighlightsHandleClick('leoHighlights_Underline_0')" onmouseover="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOver('leoHighlights_Underline_0')" onmouseout="leoHighlightsHandleMouseOut('leoHighlights_Underline_0')" leohighlights_keywords="men%20in%20black" leohighlights_url_top="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_1/tbh_highlightsTop.jsp?keywords%3Dmen%2520in%2520black%26domain%3Dwww.nationmultimedia.com" leohighlights_url_bottom="http%3A//shortcuts.thebrowserhighlighter.com/leonardo/plugin/highlights/3_1/tbh_highlightsBottom.jsp?keywords%3Dmen%2520in%2520black%26domain%3Dwww.nationmultimedia.com" leohighlights_underline="true">men in black</leo_highlight>" blamed for the murder of troops on April 10, saying "If they want to accuse me about this, it will never end."
The political fight was no longer about him,
Thaksin reiterated. However, his re-emergence, albeit in the form of telephone interviews, could be what the
red shirts need. The movement seems rudderless without him, and it remains to be seen whether the proof that he is still alive can fix the heavy damage caused by their act of insanity at the Chulalongkorn Hospital on Thursday.
For one thing, the hospital incident seemed to give him discomfort. When Naya asked him about it, he said he did not know details and suddenly hung up.
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