Thaksin Visa Raises Questions in Thailand - Wall Street Journal

BANGKOK—Ousted Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra's rush back onto the international stage with plans for a Japan trip is raising awkward questions for his sister, recently elected Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, about who really runs the country.

Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters Demonstrators at the Japanese embassy in Bangkok Thursday, protesting the issuing of a visa to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The siblings' critics are stepping up the discord with an effort to impeach the new foreign minister. His alleged offense: helping Mr. Thaksin get a visa to Japan, where the 62-year-old populist billionaire plans to talk about democracy and visit areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in March.

The proposed trip, plans for which emerged just a week after Ms. Yingluck formed her cabinet, quickly stirred up negative headlines at home, focusing on the two-year prison term for corruption that Mr. Thaksin continues to avoid by living in Dubai. He says the conviction was cooked up to prevent a political comeback after Thailand's army thrust him from power in a bloodless coup five years ago.

Jumana El Heloueh/Reuters Thaksin Shinawatra outside his home in Dubai last month, just after the election of his younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra as prime minister

Now, returned to the spotlight by last month's landslide election victory for his sister and the populist Puea Thai (For Thais) party, Mr. Thaksin is trying to repair his international reputation, analysts say—but may be doing it and the new government more harm than good.

"Mr. Thaksin wants to show that he's Thailand's de facto prime minister," says Pavin Chachavalpongpun at the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. "But by doing so he's putting Ms. Yingluck in jeopardy."

Anti-Thaksin activists took to the streets Thursday to protest Japan's granting the visa, and the opposition Democrat Party is pushing plans to impeach Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul for allegedly aiding in the process. The Democrats' legal team also filed a criminal complaint against Mr. Surapong, a distant relative of the Shinawatras, saying he aided a fugitive: Instead of helping Mr. Thaksin travel, they argue, the foreign minister should be trying to arrest him.

"Mr. Thaksin is escaping a jail sentence for a criminal offense," said Democrat legislator Virut Kalayasiri, one of the party's legal team. He told a news conference that if Mr. Surapong hadn't intervened Japan wouldn't have issued the entry visa. A person convicted of a crime and sentenced to more than a year in prison requires a special permit from Japan's justice minister to enter the country, and Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Aug. 15 that the country acted after a request from the Thai government.

Mr. Thaksin, whose Thai diplomatic passport was revoked by the last government, travels on a Montenegro passport and also holds a travel document issued by Nicaragua.

Mr. Surapong has denied any wrongdoing, saying only that Japanese officials had been informed that Thailand's new government has no policy to prevent Mr. Thaksin's traveling to any country. Ms. Yingluck, confronted by Thai reporters this past week, has repeatedly avoided the issue but has denied any personal involvement. Her office didn't immediate return calls seeking comment, while Mr. Thaksin's legal adviser didn't return calls seeking comment.

2006: Thailand's armed forces topple elected leader Thaksin Shinawatra in a bloodless coup, accusing him of corruption and disrespecting revered monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

2008: Mr. Thaksin ?ees abroad to avoid being convicted on a corruption charge that he says was designed to destroy his political reputation.

2010: Tens of thousands of antigovernment protesters mass in Bangkok to demand fresh elections. Months of protests culminate in violent clashes with security forces in which over 90 people were killed.

July 2011: Mr. Thaksin's sister Yingluck Shinawatra becomes prime minister after her Puea Thai, or For Thais, Party wins a national election in a landslide.

Aug. 10: Ms. Yingluck appoints her cabinet, placing distant Shinawatra family relative Surapong Towichukchaikul in the post of foreign minister.

Aug. 15: Japan announces it will give Mr. Thaksin a special visa to visit the country after request from the Thai government.

Aug. 18: Thailand's opposition Democrat Party begins moves to impeach Mr. Surapong, who denies any wrongdoing

Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters The opposition Democrat Party is pushing the impeachment of new Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul over the Thaksin visa

Analysts say the dispute and Mr. Thaksin's rising profile could complicate Ms. Yingluck's efforts to advance a rapprochement between the government and the influential military leaders who toppled her brother. Since that 2006 coup, the country has become badly polarized, with Mr. Thaksin's supporters in the so-called "Red Shirt" movement on one side, the armed forces and a predominantly middle-class movement of "Yellow Shirt" activists on the other. Last year, more than 90 Red Shirts were shot and killed in Bangkok during mass protests to demand early elections.

Apparently hoping to improve relations between Puea Thai and the anti-Thaksin forces that still dominate the armed forces and powerful bureaucracy, Ms. Yingluck chose not to include any Red Shirts in her first cabinet—and so risked angering grassroots activists, analysts say. She also appointed a retired general as defense minister, a move analysts say was meant to ease the military's concern that it would be dominated by a civilian government.

Paula Bronstein/Getty Images For new Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, being the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra was an electoral boon but may prove a governing a complication.

Ms. Yingluck, 44 years old, also is trying to cement her government by preparing to deliver on a sweeping array of campaign pledges, including sharp rises in the country's minimum wage and a reduction in corporate taxes.

Her brother's activities, however, are becoming a liability. "He's so impatient," said Mr. Pavin in Singapore. "And it goes to show that he's the one pulling the strings."

Democrat legislators plan to submit their impeachment petition to the 150-member Senate on Monday. To be considered by the Senate, it requires the signatures of 125 members of the 500-member Parliament—a number that Mr. Virut and other Democrat leaders say they expect to reach by next week.

Write to James Hookway at james.hookway@wsj.com

View the original article here