Thaksin finds new base

Nov 12, 2009
Reuters

PHNOM PENH - EMBOLDENED by a rousing welcome in Cambodia, Thailand's fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra is raising the stakes in his bid for a political comeback by rallying support from just over the border.

About 100 of his red-shirted supporters plan to travel from Thailand by bus or plane to meet Thaksin in the Cambodian town of Siem Reap on Friday, according to Puea Thai, the latest incarnation of his disbanded Thai Rak Thai party.

Pursued by the Thai government as a fugitive convicted of graft after his ousting in a 2006 coup, the former prime minister is flexing his political muscle in Cambodia and taunting his enemies in the Thai establishment.

The prospect of Thaksin running a political campaign from across the border is spurring protests by the powerful opponents who have fought hard to keep him at bay, pointing to more instability in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy.

Royalists aligned with the military, who wear the king's traditional colour of yellow, plan a demonstration of their own on Sunday in Bangkok to denounce Thaksin and Cambodia, threatening to deepen the political and diplomatic impasse.

Speaking in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on Thursday, the billionaire former telecommunications tycoon dismissed attacks by his critics in Thailand as 'false patriotism' in a speech to about 300 business leaders that drew strong applause.