Prime minister to lead Thai Rak Thai rally in Bangkok
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will attend his party’s rally in Bangkok on March 3, and there will be more Thai Rak Thai rallies in other provinces to respond to allegations that Thaksin has put his family’s interests ahead of the country’s, Thai Rak Thai executive Sutham Sangprathum said yesterday.
Sutham was among a chorus of key Thai Rak Thai members who voiced support for their embattled leader yesterday ahead of this Sunday’s anti-government demonstration at Sanam Luang. Thaksin will be in his hometown Chiang Mai to preside over a vintage car fair on Sunday. Environment and Natural Resources Minister Yongyuth Tiyapairat said people would take the government’s side after it responds to the allegations against Thaksin. The sale of Shin Corp shares by members of Thaksin’s family last month, and the intricate network of offshore firms used to conduct the transaction, sparked a public back?lash and calls for Thaksin’s impeachment. Yongyuth said it was normal for international businessmen to register their companies in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven. “Most Thai people don’t do international business,” he explained. “ They don’t understand and think that registering companies in the British Virgin Islands was all about money-laundering. But many companies in the stock market do so, and we will explain to people that it wasn’t irregular.” He also dismissed the claim that the sale of Shin Corp, which holds government concessions, to foreigners was a sale of national assets. “Foreign investors cannot take pieces of Thailand back to their home country,” he said. “They can’t take anything with them, even a satellite, because the devices belong to the Thai government,” he explained. Secretary-general to the prime minister Prommin Lertsuridej warned social rifts and campaigns launched outside Parliament would hurt the economy. Prommin denied that the government amended the law to raise the foreign ownership level in a telecommunications firm to facilitate the Shin Corp share sale as former Palang Dharma Party leader Chamlong Srimuang has alleged. The process of amending the law began in 2001 after a different firm proposed it, he said. PM’s Office Minister Newin Chidchob said even if the opposition succeeds in launching a no-confidence debate against Thaksin, it will lose the vote. A joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate is the only solution to solving the political crisis, Newin said. The government would not restrict topics debated in a joint session, but the opposition would have to accept defeat if it lost, he said.
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