Jan 26, 2009
BANGKOK - THAILAND'S deeply divisive ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra on Sunday launched an attack on new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's first month in office, accusing his foe of copying his policies.
Speaking on Thai television from an undisclosed location abroad, Thaksin accused Mr Abhisit's government of espousing populist policies such as loans for the poor and expanded social security simply to win over detractors.
Only a couple of well-wishers showed up at the new anti-government satellite TV station broadcasting the phone interview, a week ahead of a planned rally by Thaksin's supporters that will be a test of his continuing popularity at home.
'I am not concerned who will copy my policies, because I am more concerned about people,' Thaksin said on Democracy Television.
'But even if it is the same policy, if the people who implement it are different people it could have a different outcome,' said the twice-elected premier who was ousted in a military coup in September 2006.
'When I was in government, I listened to people who really had problems ... I did not just stand at the top of the tower issuing policies.'
Oxford-educated Abhisit came to power in a parliamentary vote on Dec 15 after a court dissolved the Thaksin-linked ruling People Power Party (PPP), bringing an end to six months of disruptive anti-government protests.
A number of small parties and former PPP lawmakers defected to Mr Abhisit's Democrat Party-led coalition, enabling it to narrowly win the vote and draining the exiled Thaksin of power less than a year after his allies won elections.
Mr Abhisit has announced a US$3.28 billion (S$4.93 billion) financial stimulus package aimed at reviving Thailand's flagging economy after a devastating week of airport protest blockades in November and December last year.
The package includes hand-outs of 2,000 baht (S$86) to lower income families, tax cuts, subsidies and loans for education, which the government's new finance team says will stimulate consumer spending.
'The government has pushed forward measures to restore the economy and help the people,' Mr Abhisit said in his weekly television address on Sunday.Thaksin said however that if the policies are only used for political gain, 'the country will be ruined'.
He also criticised the appointment to government of supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy protest group which seized the airports, stranding hundreds of thousands of tourists and battering the economy.
Thailand remains deeply divided between those loyal to the ousted leader - known as the 'Red Shirts' - and his enemies in the Bangkok-based establishment and middle classes who want to rid the kingdom of his influence.
Thaksin was elected in 2001 and 2005, and was enormously popular with the rural and urban poor, who had previously been sidelined by politicians. But allegations of corruption and abuse of power dogged his time in office and he made some powerful enemies in the old elites in the palace, military, and bureaucracy who felt his enormous popularity usurped some of their power.
Thaksin has spent most his time since the coup in self-imposed exile abroad as corruption cases mounted against him, and he was in October last year sentenced in absentia to two years in jail for abuse of power. Urbane Abhisit - whose name means 'privileged' - has repeatedly failed to win over rural voters. -- AFP
straitstimes
BANGKOK - THAILAND'S deeply divisive ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra on Sunday launched an attack on new Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's first month in office, accusing his foe of copying his policies.
Speaking on Thai television from an undisclosed location abroad, Thaksin accused Mr Abhisit's government of espousing populist policies such as loans for the poor and expanded social security simply to win over detractors.
Only a couple of well-wishers showed up at the new anti-government satellite TV station broadcasting the phone interview, a week ahead of a planned rally by Thaksin's supporters that will be a test of his continuing popularity at home.
'I am not concerned who will copy my policies, because I am more concerned about people,' Thaksin said on Democracy Television.
'But even if it is the same policy, if the people who implement it are different people it could have a different outcome,' said the twice-elected premier who was ousted in a military coup in September 2006.
'When I was in government, I listened to people who really had problems ... I did not just stand at the top of the tower issuing policies.'
Oxford-educated Abhisit came to power in a parliamentary vote on Dec 15 after a court dissolved the Thaksin-linked ruling People Power Party (PPP), bringing an end to six months of disruptive anti-government protests.
A number of small parties and former PPP lawmakers defected to Mr Abhisit's Democrat Party-led coalition, enabling it to narrowly win the vote and draining the exiled Thaksin of power less than a year after his allies won elections.
Mr Abhisit has announced a US$3.28 billion (S$4.93 billion) financial stimulus package aimed at reviving Thailand's flagging economy after a devastating week of airport protest blockades in November and December last year.
The package includes hand-outs of 2,000 baht (S$86) to lower income families, tax cuts, subsidies and loans for education, which the government's new finance team says will stimulate consumer spending.
'The government has pushed forward measures to restore the economy and help the people,' Mr Abhisit said in his weekly television address on Sunday.Thaksin said however that if the policies are only used for political gain, 'the country will be ruined'.
He also criticised the appointment to government of supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy protest group which seized the airports, stranding hundreds of thousands of tourists and battering the economy.
Thailand remains deeply divided between those loyal to the ousted leader - known as the 'Red Shirts' - and his enemies in the Bangkok-based establishment and middle classes who want to rid the kingdom of his influence.
Thaksin was elected in 2001 and 2005, and was enormously popular with the rural and urban poor, who had previously been sidelined by politicians. But allegations of corruption and abuse of power dogged his time in office and he made some powerful enemies in the old elites in the palace, military, and bureaucracy who felt his enormous popularity usurped some of their power.
Thaksin has spent most his time since the coup in self-imposed exile abroad as corruption cases mounted against him, and he was in October last year sentenced in absentia to two years in jail for abuse of power. Urbane Abhisit - whose name means 'privileged' - has repeatedly failed to win over rural voters. -- AFP
straitstimes
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