Newin Chidchob is a Thai

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 politician. As a member of several political parties, Newin and his allies eventually joined the Thai Rak Thai

Thai Rak Thai

The Thai Rak Thai Party was a Thai political party that was officially banned on May 30, 2007, by the Constitutional Court of Thailand due to violations of electoral laws during the 2006 legislative elections. From 2001 to 2006, it was the ruling party under Prime Minister and its founder Thaksin...

 Party of Thaksin Shinawatra

Thaksin Shinawatra

Thaksin Shinawatra is a Thai businessman and politician, who was Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006, when he was overthrown in a military coup....

 in 2005. Until the 2006 Thai coup d'état, he served as a member of the Parliament

National Assembly of Thailand

The National Assembly of Thailand or the Parliament of Thailand is the legislative branch of the government of Thailand. The National Assembly of Thailand is a bicameral body, consisting of two chambers: the upper house, , and the lower house,...

 for Buriram Province

Buriram Province

Buri Ram or is one of the north-eastern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Sa Kaeo, Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen, Maha Sarakham and Surin. To the south-east it borders Oddar Meancheay of Cambodia...

 and was a Cabinet minister with the Thai Rak Thai party. From 2002 to 2005, he was Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives.

After the 2006 Thai coup d'état and the dissolution of Thai Rak Thai, he and his friends, mostly members of the National Assembly from the southern part of Isan

Isan

Isan is the northeastern region of Thailand. It is located on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Prachinburi mountains south of Nakhon Ratchasima...

 or northeastern region, shifted from the ruling (now dissolved) People Power Party (PPP) to the opposition Democrat Party

Democrat Party (Thailand)

The Democrat Party is Thailand's oldest political party and was the main coalition government party of the 23rd House of Representatives of Thailand. The Democrat Party's current leader is Abhisit Vejjajiva, incumbent opposition leader and former Prime Minister. The party upholds a conservative...

 during the 2008 Thai political crisis

2008 Thai political crisis

Since 2008, there has been an ongoing political crisis in Thailand in form of a conflict between the People's Alliance for Democracy and the People's Power Party governments of Prime Ministers Somchai Wongsawat and Samak Sundaravej, respectively, and later between the Democrat Party government of...

. He is the leader of the so-called "Friends of Newin Group", now known as the "Bhumjaithai Party". Consequently the Democrat Party'led coalition gained the majority in the National Assembly. Abhisit Vejjajiva

Abhisit Vejjajiva

Abhisit Vejjajiva , , ; born Mark Abhisit Vejjajiva; 3 August 1964 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is a Thai politician who was the 27th Prime Minister of Thailand from 2008 to 2011 and is the current leader of the Democrat Party...

, Democrat Party's leader, was voted by the majority of the Parliament's members to be the new prime minister in December 2008.

During the political tension in April 2009 caused by pro-Thaksin groups widely known as the Red Shirts

National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship

The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship , whose supporters are commonly called "Red Shirts", is a political pressure group opposed to the People's Alliance for Democracy , the 2006 Thai military coup, and supporters of the coup. Notable UDD leaders include Jatuporn Prompan, Nattawut...

, Newin publicly blasted Thaksin, his former 'boss', as the root of the political tension due to his 'doubts' of Thaksin's loyalty towards the monarchy and the current political system of the kingdom. Previously in 2008, Newin had wept with Thaksin when the former PM kissed the tarmac at Suvarnabhumi airport after returning to Thailand after a self-imposed exile.

Newin was named after the Burmese leader Ne Win

Ne Win

Ne Win was Burmese a politician and military commander. He was Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974 and also head of state from 1962 to 1981...

.

Crimes and punishments

On 19 June 1998, the Buriram Provincial Court handed Newin a suspended six-month jail sentence and a ฿50,000 fine in a vote-buying slander case filed by Democrat MP Karun Sai-ngam. A year later, the Constitutional Court ruled 7-6 that Newin could keep his ministerial post.

Newin was acquitted in 2009 of involvement in the rubber sapling scandal for bid rigging, corruption and collusion.

In 2007 Newin was banned from politics for five years for being an executive of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party, however he continues to be active in politics despite the ban, famously engineering a coalition government with his group and the Democrat Party.