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Billionaire PM had no shortage of enemies

Eighteen months ago, Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide election victory and became a rising star on the regional stage. Today, he is out of a job after a coup d'etat and considering life in exile.

It was a dramatic fall for the 57-year-old billionaire known as the CEO prime minister for his corporate style but also a fate that critics said was deserved.

He had no shortage of enemies in Thailand who claimed he was authoritarian, arrogant and someone who survived by pitting the rural majority against the country's urban elite.

Thaksin, who hails from a family of silk merchants and was educated in the US, was yesterday reportedly headed to London to meet his family and it remains unclear whether he will return to Thailand.

He rose to power in 2001 on a raft of populist policies, but came under fire for his war on drugs in 2003 that left 2,300 Thais dead over a three-month period. He was also accused of mishandling the Muslim insurgency in the south.

Despite his problems, Thaksin was overwhelmingly re-elected last year to a second term when his Thai Rak Thai party won 377 of the 500 seats in the House of Representatives.

But that didn't stop protesters mostly in Bangkok from launching a campaign to oust Thaksin in October. What started as a quirky protest led by publisher Sondhi Limthongkul caught fire in January, after Thaksin sold the family's controlling stake of Shin Corp to Singapore's Temasek Holdings for 73.3 billion baht (US$1.9 billion).

Anger over the sale helped the movement attract middle class voters, students and business leaders, prompting street rallies that became nightly protests and at times drew over 100,000 people who demanded his resignation.

Thaksin responded by dissolving Parliament in February and called snap elections to defuse the protests. But opposition parties boycotted the polls and millions of voters marked an abstention box on their ballots as a protest against the prime minister.

Because a minimum vote rule was not met in some constituencies, the parliament could not be convened. The vote was later ruled invalid by the courts, forcing the new polls to be held later this year.

Thaksin initially said he would step down to ease the crisis but in recent weeks has been acting and talking like a politician on the come back trail.

Just days ago in New York, Thaksin seemed to unaware of the events unfolding back home. He made light of the ongoing political crisis, comparing Thailand to a "child learning to walk" but refusing to say what his future held.
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