Thailand’s fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has spent much of the past three years roaming the globe, shopping for diamonds in Africa, golfing at Asian resorts — and humiliating the government from a distance.
Now, he is an economic adviser to the government of Cambodia, and that’s too close for comfort for Thailand’s current leadership.
The appointment last week by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has jangled nerves in Bangkok and entangled both countries in a diplomatic brawl that prompted Thailand first and then Cambodia to recall their ambassadors on Thursday.
Hun Sen had soured already tense relations last month by offering Thaksin a home in Cambodia and vowing not to extradite him. The comments rattled Thailand, which has a nasty dispute with its neighbor over border territory that led to several small but deadly clashes over the past year and a half.
Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 coup after being accused of massive corruption and now helps lead the opposition from abroad.
Analysts say Thaksin’s latest move could be the launch pad for a political comeback.
“Thaksin is on a new offensive. This is a calculated campaign to undermine this government and to change governments,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “He wants to retake what he sees as his legitimate right, which is to have another election that he believes he will win.”
For Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’ government, Cambodia’s action is a slap in the face it feels compelled to respond to.
Thaksin has not indicated if he plans to live in Cambodia or spelled out how he will perform his new dual role as personal advisor to Hun Sen and an economic adviser to his government.
From cyberspace, Thaksin tweeted to his 40,000 Twitter followers that Abhisit’s recall of the Thai ambassador was a “childish overreaction.”
“I’m asking permission from all Thai people to advise the Cambodian government ... until I have a chance to serve you again,” he tweeted separately, calling his new job “an honor.”
The tycoon was elected by landslide wins to serve two terms as prime minister from 2001 to 2006. Efforts to minimize his role in Thai politics since his ouster have failed. Thai courts have sentenced him to two years in prison for corruption while in office and dissolved his political party, while his Thai assets worth US$2.25 billion have been frozen and his Thai personal and diplomatic passports canceled.
The UK, Germany and other countries have barred Thaksin, but there have been no shortage of others willing to accept his investment offers and hand over new passports, including Nicaragua and Montenegro.
Thaksin posts photos of his travels on Facebook. Recent snapshots show him golfing in Brunei and Dubai, inspecting diamond mines in South Africa, sipping coffee in a private jet and meeting prime ministers or presidents on trips to Sri Lanka, Papua New Guinea and the Maldives.
His new relationship with Hun Sen is bound to revive speculation of private business deals between the two while he was prime minister.
No such ethical doubts dog Abhisit, but he faces the challenge of how to calm the political maelstrom around Thaksin.
“Thailand is now in the international spotlight and its leader has been discredited,” said Sompop Manarungsan, a political economist at Chulalongkorn. “The strategy Thaksin is using, I call it ‘crashing.’ He is destroying everything in his path to reach his goal.”
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