Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday that authorities are trying unsuccessfully to muzzle Thaksin Shinawatra, the fugitive ousted leader who is reigniting the country’s political crisis as he roams the world.
Thaksin has become the prime attraction at protests that started last week outside the prime minister’s office, speaking via video link from abroad and firing up supporters with calls for nationwide protests.
“The government is trying to block the call-ins but cannot do more than the law permits,” Abhisit told a gathering of leaders from his Democrat Party.
“We are also trying to get him back to the country,” he said.
Abhisit has rejected the protesters’ calls for his resignation, but analysts say Thaksin has sounded a “war cry” and his strength should not be underestimated. The protests that started on Thursday are the largest since Abhisit took power in December.
Thaksin was deposed by a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption and abuse of power, setting off a political crisis and a tug-of-war between his supporters and opponents. Thaksin fled into exile last year before a court convicted him in absentia of violating a conflict of interest law, and he has publicly taunted authorities ever since.
The one-time tycoon who turned to politics remains popular with the poor rural majority that benefited from his populist policies and has managed to address supporters by telephone or video link from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and most recently Africa, aides said.
“I call on you to rise up across the country,” Thaksin told about 30,000 protesters on Saturday.
“You don’t need to come to Bangkok, but rally in peace throughout the country to say that we cherish democracy,” said Thaksin, his image on a giant screen outside Government House, which he occupied for six years as prime minister.
Thitinan Pongsidhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, said Thaksin’s messages showed he was determined to take his political battle to a new level.
“In terms of rallying the troops, it was a war cry,” Thitinan said. “Despite the passage of time and distance, the support Thaksin has in the countryside is still potent. Last night he activated that support.”
At another protest on Friday night, Thaksin dropped what Thai media called a “bombshell,” accusing the chief adviser to King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the country’s revered constitutional monarch, of being a mastermind of the 2006 coup and undermining Thai democracy.
The comments shocked Thailand, where the king’s Privy Council is considered by many an extension of the king himself, who is widely adored and protected from reproach by strict laws.
Privy Council head Prem Tinsulanonda has not publicly responded to the allegations, which other members of the council have denied.
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