Thaksin visits Japan - Channel News Asia

TOKYO: Thailand's fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra is due to give two speeches in Japan on Tuesday as part of a visit that has stoked widespread controversy in his home country.

The one-time business tycoon, toppled in a 2006 coup, is visiting Japan just a fortnight after his sister Yingluck Shinawatra took power as Thailand's prime minister, raising questions about his influence over her government.

Thaksin, who is living in exile in Dubai to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption, has angered his critics with his Japan visit -- until August 28 -- which many see as an attempt to make a return to the international stage.

His visit will include a tour of northeastern areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. On Tuesday he was due to give two speeches in Tokyo.

In a recent interview with Japan's Kyodo News agency, he said he wanted to assess what Thailand could do to help Japan.

"My intention is to visit the tsunami site to see whether we can render any kind of cooperation or assistance," he was quoted as saying.

He said help from Bangkok could possibly include assisting disaster-hit Japanese companies relocate to Thailand, or to issue long-stay visas to tsunami victims who want to recuperate in Thailand.

Thaksin reportedly insisted he is not officially involved with the new government led by Yingluck, telling Kyodo: "Leadership lies with the prime minister. I just give advice when needed. I don't give advice every day."

Thaksin, who served as Thai prime minister between 2001 and 2006, is loved by many poor Thais but seen by the Bangkok-based elite as authoritarian and a threat to the monarchy.

His removal from power by royalist generals heralded five years of political crises, both in the Thai parliament and on the streets, where his foes and supporters have held crippling rival protests.

They culminated in rallies by "Red Shirts" loyal to Thaksin last year, in which more than 90 people died in clashes between the army and demonstrators.

Yingluck, a political novice who her brother has described as his "clone", has raised the idea of an amnesty for convicted politicians.

While Yingluck's government denied making a specific visa request for Thaksin, Tokyo said Bangkok had asked it to allow in the former leader, making an exception to its normal entry rules concerning criminal convictions.

The previous Democrat-led government accused the fugitive of bankrolling the 2010 Red Shirt rallies and inciting unrest, and a Thai court last year approved an arrest warrant for him on terrorism charges.

An opinion poll published on Monday indicated most Thais want Thaksin to stay out of politics.

Almost 69 per cent said he should allow Yingluck to run the country by herself, compared with 20.5 per cent who said he should have a role, according to Assumption University of Thailand, which surveyed almost 2,200 people.

-AFP/wk

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Protests over Thaksin Japan trip - BBC News

22 August 2011 Last updated at 11:38 GMT Thaksin Shinawatra's visit to Japan has prompted angry protests in Bangkok Thailand's ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is visiting Japan despite protests in Thailand, where he still has to serve a two-year jail sentence.

The Thai opposition criticised Japan for granting a visa to Mr Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile, despite his conviction for abuse of power.

They said Japanese officials had been influenced by the recent election win of Mr Thaksin's youngest sister.

Yingluck Shinawatra leads a six-party coalition which dominates parliament.

The authorities in Tokyo usually refuse to grant visas to people still to serve time for criminal convictions, which should have ruled out Mr Thaksin's request.

Mr Thaksin - whose populist policies won him the support of much of the rural and urban poor - was forced from office in a 2006 military coup.

He now lives in exile in Dubai, and is seen as the de facto leader of his sister's governing Pheu Thai party - although the party maintains his role is purely advisory.

'No formal role'

Mr Thaksin's advisers have tried to paint the trip to Japan as strictly a personal matter.

A spokesman described the visit as "just one of a number of visits that ex-world leaders make".

He said Mr Thaksin had no plans to return to Thailand "until things are settled there" and that he "has no formal role in the new government even as some kind of unofficial envoy".

But the BBC's Guy De Launey in Bangkok says few people are convinced as the former prime minister's plans look more like those of a statesman than a private individual.

Mr Thaksin will visit areas of Japan devastated by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami during his week-long visit.

He is also expected to give a speech at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan.

Mr Thaksin's opponents have accused the new government of applying political influence to enable the ousted leader's visit, starting legal action against both individual ministers and the governing party.

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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

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Japan grants visa to fugitive ex-Thai PM Thaksin (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan said on Monday it had granted a visa to Thailand's fugitive, self-exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to boost ties with Thailand under a new government led by his sister.

Tokyo said the new Thai government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has asked Japan to issue the visa -- a move that represents a reversal of the stance by the previous Thai administration, which revoked the billionaire's Thai passports and aggressively pursued his extradition so he can serve a two-year prison term for abuse of power.

"The Yingluck government's policy is not to ban former prime minister Thaksin from traveling to any country and it has asked for our help in having ex-PM Thaksin visit Japan and to issue a visa," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told a news conference.

"Considering bilateral ties, it is a given that we respond based on the current official government's request."

Thaksin, 62, fled into exile in 2008 a few weeks before he was sentenced. He insists his conviction was part of a vendetta by political opponents whom he says plotted his overthrow in a 2006 coup and pressured court judges to put him in jail.

The visa issue has caused a stir in Thailand, where Thaksin is a divisive figure, loved by millions of urban and rural poor but loathed by many middle class Thais, who regard him as a corrupt autocrat and want to see him behind bars.

The timing of the visa request has come as a surprise because Yingluck has so far trod carefully with regard to her brother, rejecting claims she is his proxy and distancing herself from talk of his possible return home from exile.

Many analysts had predicted Thaksin would try to keep a low profile and wait for the government to consolidate power before making any move that could anger his powerful opponents among the military and establishment and risk Yingluck's downfall.

Yingluck, 44, took up politics only three months ago and her Puea Thai Party won the July 3 poll in an landslide, campaigning on the same kind of populist policies that saw Thaksin elected twice in 2001 and 2005.

Thaksin, who lives in Dubai and travels on Montenegrin and Nicaraguan passports, plans to speak to journalists in Tokyo next week and visit parts of northeastern Japan devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in March.

Japan's law forbids foreigners from entering the country if they have been given a criminal sentence of or have been in prison for one or more years, excluding political crimes, but the government can decide on exceptions.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)

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