Thaksin Shinawatra
Thaksin Shinawatra (Thai: ทักษิณ ชินวัตร, IPA: [tʰáksǐn tɕʰinwát] (help·info); born July 26, 1949), is a controversial Thai politician who served as prime minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006 as leader of the now banned Thai Rak Thai Party, which he had founded. As head of the Shin Corporation, which controls (among others) Thailand's largest mobile phone operator Advanced Info Service (AIS), he was the wealthiest man in the country before he transfered ownership to his family. He was deposed by a military coup in 2006 when he as acting as Interim Prime Minister after the results of the previous election, which had been boycotted by other political parties, had been ruled invalid by the courts because of numerous election irregularities. Thaksin has lived abroad since his conviction of corruption in 2008, although he remains the real power behind the Pheu Thai Party, and he was the leader of the red shirt anti-government demonstrations in 2010. Thaksin picked his businesswoman youngest sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, to head the Pheu Thai Party in his place. She is the current Prime Minister of Thailand.
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[edit] 1995
"I will solve traffic problems in Bangkok within 6 months." -- Said following his appointment as Deputy Prime Minister in the cabinet of Banharn Silpa-Archa. (When nothing had changed after six months, Thaksin denied he had made the statement, though it is on videotape.)[citation needed]
[edit] 2001
“Please forgive my honest mistake.” -- Said tearfully before the Constitutional Court prior to their announcement of their judgement regarding multi-million baht assets which had been transferred to names of his maid and chauffeur (who nothing about them). A majority of the court acquitted him in a controversial decision.[citation needed]
[edit] 2003
"UN is not my father" -- His reply to a reporter when asked about the announcement of United Nation's Human Rights Office that it would to send officials observe Thai police conduct during Thaksin's anti-drugs campaign, which eventually left several thousand people dead. [March 2003][citation needed]
[edit] 2004
"Please don't intervene. Please leave us alone. It is my job and we can cope with this matter. We are trying to explain this to foreigners. But if they do not understand or ignore our explanation, I don't care because we are not begging them for food." -- [1 May, 2004] In a radio address following international criticism over his crackdowns on Islamic radicals in the southernmost provinces bordering Malaysia.[citation needed]
"Terrorists in the south are nothing but petty thieves."[citation needed]
“There are some who died because they were fasting, and they were crammed in tight.” -- Thaksin's explanation of the Tak Bai massacre in 2004, when 84 died after hundreds of peaceful Muslim protestors were stacked like cordwood in Thai Army trucks and kept there for hours.[citation needed]
[edit] 2005
"Those provinces that give their trust in Thai Rak Thai will be our priorty" -- [31 Oct 2005] [[1]]
[edit] 2006
“I only went to Singapore for shopping. I enjoyed the food and had a good time with my family.” --[6 Jan 2006][citation needed]
"I know nothing about a sell-off, but if the family were to dispose of the shares, I would do the same.", --[9 Jan 2006] statement by Panthongtae Shinawatra, Thaksin's son.[citation needed]
“I don’t know. You’d better ask my children. I’m not the owner. They are.” --[13 Jan 2006][citation needed]
“I don’t know. I’ve never told my children what to do. They normally advise me how things should be. They are the real owners. I still ask my wife for pocket money.” --[13 Jan 2006][citation needed]
“They may have to wait until the next life to see me resign. Everything will proceed according to the rules and regulations of this country.” -- [14 Jan 2006][citation needed]
"I won't get involved in any business. And my children, they have their own little businesses to take care of." --[25 Jan 2006][citation needed]
"It's not as easy as selling khanom kheng ! (a Chinese sweet, used in Chinese New Year festival) How many purchasers do you think are out there? It's a 70-billion-baht deal. Who's going buy it? How many people on earth would have that kind of money?" --[25 Jan 2006][citation needed]
"I have a lot of money so people are envy of me." -- Thaksin's response to public criticism over the scandal of the secret sale his 73-billion Baht worth of Shin Corporation stock to the government of Singapore.--[25 Jan 2006][citation needed]
"If only His Majesty the King whisper to me, Please quit, Thaksin, I will quit immediately," -- [4 Feb 2006] radio address. [[2]]
“I will not resign because my resignation will not resolve anything.”[citation needed]
" It is a pity that some teachers nowadays are incompetent. They do not teach the right thing to students. As a result, those teachers are the ones that are going to destroy democracy." Spoken by Thaksin after meeting with a university lecturers who supported him, following the call for his resignation by a large group of Chulalongkorn University professors. -- [Feb 2006][citation needed]
“We have received confirmation from all sources that the rumor of a coup is not true. The rumor was spread by some faction, but it is not true.” -- His first statement while in New York, following the news of the 2006 coup.[citation needed]
"I came here as prime minister but left as an unemployed man," said while leaving New York after he was deposed as interim prime minister in the 2006 Thailand coup d'état while he was at the United Nations headquarters. [3]
[edit] 2007
[edit] 2008
"I have travelled around the world, but I have found that there is no other place as warm and happy to me as my home country. I want to live the rest of my life here," --After his return to face charges of corruption.[citation needed]
"If I still have luck, I would like to return to die in my motherland, just like any other Thai." -- Statement from London after he jumped bail because of his conviction by the court.[citation needed]
