- By Ranger, Thai Intel’s political journalist
Here in Bangkok, the big issue right now is getting the Thais with establishment leaning to stop being scared of the “Taksin Ghost.” Nowhere can the fright of the Taksin ghost can be seen more than the Thai lawyers association statement yesterday that “A coup is better than a corrupt Taksin.” However, enlightened researchers, says, there is no such thing as a Taksin ghost, but the establishment keeps the “Taksin Ghost Story” going to use to scare Thais into their camp.
And how corrupt is Taksin, well, a poll of that Thais that was hardly publiched by the Thai media, says the Abhisit government is more corrupt than Taksin, and a global level transparency unit also found that the Abhisit government is more corrupt than Taksin.
The following is by Pavin:
Book Review: Tom Plate’s Conversations with Thaksin
Controversial tycoon shows a different side
By Pavin Chachavalpongpun
Published on The Straits Times, 28 September 2011
PROFESSOR-cum-journalist Tom Plate’s latest book is both captivating and controversial.
Conversations With Thaksin: From Exile To Deliverance: Thailand’s Populist Tycoon Tells His Story (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2011) is part of the author’s Giants Of Asia series, in which he had published books based on interviews with Singapore’s Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysia’s Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
This volume on Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006, has already created a stir in Thailand. Some bookstores refuse to sell the book because of its controversial contents.
But then, the subject himself is controversial. Based on extensive interviews between Thaksin and Mr Plate at the former premier’s residence in Dubai, the book is easy to read and written in a breezy style, with background on Thai politics, especially since that fateful coup of 2006, skilfully woven into the narrative.
One central theme is the complex relationship between Thaksin and the palace. Although the author does not elaborate on many details – perhaps for fear of being charged under Thailand’s very strict lese majeste laws – readers will be able to piece together the links between Thaksin, the coup and the role of the palace.
Mr Plate portrays Thaksin as being ‘misunderstood’ by the royalists. Thaksin told him in an interview that the leaders of the yellow-shirted People’s Alliance for Democracy and the military considered him as not loyal to the monarchy and were out to ‘get’ him to please the palace. King Bhumibol Adulyadej is considered the ultimate moral authority in Thai politics.
Mr Plate uses his journalistic skill to get Thaksin to give his honest views on the much-revered monarchy and its defenders in high places.
According to the book, Thaksin ‘declared war’ against General Prem Tinsulanonda, former prime minister and present head of the Privy Council.
‘In Thailand, you have Privy Councillors, and they have nothing to do with the Constitution, and this is how Prem happens to have power over the formal structure of government,’ Thaksin said on Page 204. It has been widely believed among his supporters that Gen Prem was the mastermind of the last coup.
Mr Plate’s book thus deals with a pertinent question in Thai politics: a non-elective institution attempting to undermine an elective one. This raises the issue of whether the old argument made by the royalists that the monarchy is above politics might be questionable. This aspect of the monarchy has not been seriously discussed before because of legal restrictions. This book, in many ways, helps to push the boundary further in discussing the place of the monarchy in the Thai crisis.
‘Great Britain has a perfect monarchy that doesn’t seem to drag down the political realm too much. It would take resolve and discipline for Thailand to move in that direction,’ said Mr Plate on Page 240.
The other focal point in this book concentrates on Thaksin’s past. Mr Plate takes readers back to his childhood, family businesses, entry to politics and downfall. The long list of achievements frankly makes for tedious reading.
Thaksin is clearly trying to create a new persona in these interviews. If you take what he says at face value, he always thought about the poor and wanted nothing more than to improve people’s lives. ‘I’m not worried about myself. I’m worried about my country and the people,’ he stressed on Page 95. The former premier also turns benevolent, forgiving his enemies and yearning for a real reconciliation. This sounds touching – and Mr Plate seems to feel at times that Thaksin is genuine. But this is definitely a different Thaksin from the one Thais know.
The book may help to whitewash Thaksin’s wrongdoings in the past years. He used the interviews to dismiss allegations against him. He rejected corruption charges as politically motivated. He claimed he was ‘bullied’ even before his premiership in 2001, when his enemies accused him of concealing wealth.
Thaksin avoided clarifying the troubled case of the Shin Corp-Temasek deal in 2006. He denied the allegation that he abused his authority to secure a plot of land in prime location for his then wife, Ms Khunying Potjaman. He reiterated that he never funded the red-shirt movement, saying ‘no’ to Mr Plate four times. As for the protracted conflict in the deep south, he regretted his hard-nosed policy but also blamed the ‘extremists’ who instigated the crisis in 2004.
But it would be wrong to suggest that Thaksin used Mr Plate, a seasoned journalist and interviewer. Having given the former premier his unvarnished say, Mr Plate sums up appropriately on Page 168: ‘Thaksin was far from perfect; he made some big mistakes, but everyone makes mistakes. But he did some things, and he expanded the parameter of democracy.’
Whether you hate him or love him, this is an interesting book that shows a different side of Thaksin and would be of interest to keen observers of Thailand.
The writer is a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies who writes frequently on Thailand.
Tom Plate, Conversations With Thaksin: From Exile To Deliverance: Thailand’s Populist Tycoon Tells His Story, (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2011), 252 pages, is available in leading bookstores.
Copyright © 2011 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.
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