For those who believe in astrology, the star-gazer warned that next month would probably be the most unstable period, when very bad things could happen in the country.

In April 2005, Pinyo deeply upset Thaksin Shinawatra, who was still a widely popular premier at the time, by predicting that a doomsday scenario was approaching.

Pinyo recalled: "On April 9 or 10, 2005, I said publicly at a seminar that there could be riots in the city, that Khun Thaksin has duang ta-aek [inauspicious stars], that the economy would plunge to a low ebb, as would the premier's popularity, because my astrological analysis, based on the stars of Thailand and those of our premier, showed that the country would be in a crisis in 2006.

"The following day, the premier and his aides were mad at me for making such a statement publicly. Dr Borwornsak Uwanno, then the premier's secretary-general, criticised me sharply, saying that I had added fuel to the fire. Yet, my defence is that I've been making astrological predictions on national affairs and leaders since MR Kukrit Pramoj was premier.

"That's a long time ago. Since then, only two premiers have been upset, Thaksin and Banharn Silapa-archa, while the rest were fine.

"As for Khun Banharn, he understood that his stars were not quite good at the time when he was in office during 1995-1996. Accordingly, he managed to have a ceremony to change his birth date from August 19 to July 19 in order to strengthen his stars. Having learned of this, I told reporters that changing the birth date would not do any good since it was not genuine, at least in terms of astrology.

"Then, a reporter asked me sometime in late 1996 how long the Banharn government would be in office since it had been badly criticised by the public and in Parliament. My reply was that he wouldn't last much longer. Eventually, Khun Banharn called it quits on September 27, 1996 - around the time of a lunar eclipse."

Pinyo assured me that professional astrology was not something unfounded. It is based on human knowledge and experience from

time immemorial, as well as long-running statistical records.

As for Thailand and Thaksin's stars, he was definite that things had only worsened since his first prediction in April last year.

First, the popularity of Prime Minister Thaksin appeared to have dwindled to the extent that he decided to dissolve the House of Representatives in February this year after an escalation of street protests that followed the controversial Bt73-billion tax-free sale of Shin Corp to Temasek Group of Singapore.

Second, the national economy started to slow down in the second quarter of this year, largely due to the prolonged political uncertainty and declining business and consumer confidence.

In Pinyo's opinion, the fate of the country and its political leaders, meaning the premier and his Cabinet, has also worsened because of karma, or previous bad deeds. More importantly, he warned we should be especially cautious towards the end of this year since the nation's stars are completing a roughly 30-year cycle of bad events.

"My study shows that we witnessed bloodshed on the streets on October 6, 1973.

"That's 33 years ago. In 1946, Thailand was also in deep sorrow over what had happened to King Rama 8," Pinyo said.

"After all, we should be prepared if worse comes to worst. I think most of the bad stars will be gone around August 2007."

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

 nop1122@yahoo.com