oneworldtalk

Little Egret · Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 500

It’s all about personal rivalry turned politics.

Since supporters of Thaksin were voted into parliament in December 2007, Sondhi has been leading another wave of protests against the government led by Samak to ‘defend democracy and to protect the motherland’. Behind Sondhi’s opposition to everything Thaksin-related is a tangled personal history of allies turned rivals.

When the two men were up-and-coming entrepreneurs in the early 1990s, Sondhi sold Thaksin a 17% stake in his company, International Engineering PCL, then the exclusive supplier of Nokia handsets, to Thaksin’s cellular-phone network. Thaksin promptly sold the shares for a large profit as soon as they were listed on the Thai stock market and the two men began competing for influence. When Thaksin launched a telecommunications satellite, Sondhi quickly followed. Sondhi also tried to build a global media empire and started a string of publications across Asia.

Then in 1997, Thailand’s financial crisis hit. Thaksin survived successfully hedging against the collapse of the Thai currency. Sondhi lost nearly everything. A Thai court, acting on a complaint by a creditor, ordered the businessman to be declared bankrupt. Sondhi, who is now 60 years old, spent sometime in a Buddhist monastery.

In 2001, Sondhi began rebuilding his empire, using the remains of his media business to gushingly endorse Thaksin who was then running for prime minister. After Thaksin won a landslide and took power, his government assigned Sondhi slots on state-run broadcasts to hold political shows. When the outspoken Sondhi began criticising Thaksin’s policies, the state-run broadcasts dropped him. At the same time, Thaksin allowed the central bank to remove one of Sondhi’s closest financial advisors from the helm of a state-run institution for allowing it to extend low-cost loans. Sondhi was incensed by the way his friend was treated.

Sondhi began re-creating his TV talk shows in a series of townhall-style meetings in central Bangkok to castigate Thaksin. The audience gradually swelled into crowds of more than 100,000 people, while Sondhi did a brisk trade selling T-shirts and DVDs of his speeches.

After Thaksin’s 2006 ouster, Sondhi was invited by Thailand’s new military leaders to host a nightly TV show, where he explained why the leader had to be removed. After Thaksin’s supporters won the national elections 15 months after the coup, Thailand’s Criminal Court sentenced Sondhi to 3 years in jail for libel after he accused Thaksin of being less than loyal to the Thailand’s royal family. (See the link below on respect for the king) While Thaksin, 58, asserts he has left politics altogether, Sondhi sees Thaksin’s hand behind the new government.

http://oneworldtalk.freeforums.org/is-royalty-still-relevant-in-modern-times-t1331.html#4335

The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a group Sondhi formed with 4 other prominent dissidents of Thaksin, has been holding street rallies for the past months. Sondhi’s satellite TV is broadcasting them live while the media mogul holds the stage. The government has threatened to pull the plug on cable operators that relay Sondhi’s broadcasts.

Political analysts say Sondhi’s real goal is to uproot what he sees as Thaksin’s continuing influence over the government even though many voters are still keen on Thaksin and his modernising, market-oriented policies.

PAD is now hijacking Thai democracy in the same fashion that Thaksin’s political machinery monopolised it.

It’s all about personal rivalry turned politics.

Meanwhile multinational investors look elsewhere for alternative locations in more stable countries, such as Vietnam and even the Philippines over Thailand.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday June 25, 2008

smalltok · Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 264 Location: USA

My reading of Little Egret's article suggests a very ungrateful Messr. Sondhi who nearly went bankrupt before he was "rescued" by Thaksin with lucrative TV shows.

TT Ruby · Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Posts: 306 Location: Natural Habitat

In politics, there are no permanent friends. But in Thai politics, friends can become bitter enemies and the fight can get really wicked and bloody, no bars hold.
Sonthi has an axe to grind with Thaksin and it is played out publicly. Thaksin is no angel but he has proven to possess better business acumen. To Sonthi's advantage is his intellect and glib tongue and ability to rally mass support among the Bangkokians. His accusations of vote buying and Thaksin's autocratic government also won the hearts of idealists among the educated Thais. So the saga and rivalries continue. Hidden agenda is often unsaid as the actors put on a good show of their relative strengths. As seen in numerous occasions, the divine King is always evoked as a protective charm to eliminate political rivals.

Little Egret · Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 500

TT Ruby, I think, at least for once, we’re seeing the Thai political picture on the same wavelength.

TT Ruby · Joined: 24 Mar 2007 Posts: 306 Location: Natural Habitat

Little Egret, I do not expect all the forum participants here to agree on every issue. When everyone thinks alike, life would be very boring. If there is no exchange, how could we improve? It is not so much that we have the same wavelength now, but there are many angles of examining a topic.

The perspective of my friends in the intelligentsia who have the capabilities of leading should also be represented but unfortunately, they are always used by the rich and powerful.

Perhaps it's also familiarity that has helped to make us more tolerant, respectful and receptive of others' views.