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....

was the 23rd Prime Minister of Thailand.

As Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra initiated many distinctive policies affecting the economy, public health, education, energy, drugs and international relations. He gained two landslide re-election victories. Thaksin's policies have been particularly effective at reducing rural poverty and at providing affordable health coverage to the people. Because of this, his main support base has been the rural poor.

His Cabinet was packed with academics, former student leaders, and former leaders of the Phalang Dharma party, including Prommin Lertsuridej

Prommin Lertsuridej

Prommin Lertsuridej, M.D. was a Thai politician, former student leader, former Secretary General to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, former Deputy Prime Minister in charge of economic affairs, and former Minister of Energy in the Thaksin government...

, Chaturon Chaisang, Prapat Panyachatraksa

Prapat Panyachatraksa

Prapat Panyachatraksa was a student demonstrator during the violent 1973 democracy movement during which he confronted an M-60 armed soldier armed with just a piece of wood, for which he was popularly nicknamed "Ai Karn Yao"...

, Surapong Suebwonglee, Somkid Jatusripitak

Somkid Jatusripitak

Somkid Jatusripitak , Chinese: 曾汉光, Thai politician, is a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce of Thailand. He was a leader and cofounder of the populist Thai Rak Thai party. His wife, Anurachanee Jatusripitak, teaches at Chulalongkorn University...

, Surakiart Sathirathai

Surakiart Sathirathai

Surakiart Sathirathai was, until September 19 2006, a Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand overseeing Foreign Affairs, Education and Culture.-Family and early career:...

, and Sudarat Keyuraphan

Sudarat Keyuraphan

Sudarat Keyuraphan is a Thai politician and the deputy leader of the Thai Rak Thai party. She served as the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives of Thailand in the Thai Rak Thai government until its ousting in the September 2006 coup.Born in Bangkok, Sudarat is a graduate of Chulalongkorn...

. Traditional leaders of regional coalitions also became minor members of his Cabinet.

His government has been frequently challenged with allegations of dictatorship, demagogy

Demagogy

Demagogy or demagoguery is a strategy for gaining political power by appealing to the prejudices, emotions, fears, vanities and expectations of the public—typically via impassioned rhetoric and propaganda, and often using nationalist, populist or religious themes...

, corruption, conflicts of interest

Conflicts of Interest

"Conflicts of Interest" is an episode from the fourth season of the science fiction television series Babylon 5.-Arc significance:* Garibaldi begins to work for William Edgars. In the process Garibaldi is reintroduced to his ex-girlfriend, Lise, who is currently married to Edgars.* The "Voice of...

, human rights offences, acting undiplomatically, the use of legal loopholes and hostility towards a free press

Censorship in Thailand

Freedom of speech in Thailand was guaranteed in the articles 39, 40, 41 in the 1997 Constitution.According to those articles, censorship may be imposed to preserve national security, maintain public order, preserve the rights of others, protect public morals, and prevent criticism of the royal...

. A controversial leader, he has also been the target of numerous allegations of lèse majesté

Lèse majesté

Lese-majesty is the crime of violating majesty, an offence against the dignity of a reigning sovereign or against a state.This behavior was first classified as a criminal offence against the dignity of the Roman republic in Ancient Rome...

, treason

Finland Plot

In Thailand politics, the Finland Plot, Finland Plan, Finland Strategy or Finland Declaration are names of a controversial theory espoused by Sondhi Limthongkul and supporters affiliated with the People's Alliance for Democracy in 2006 describing a plot allegedly developed by Thai Prime Minister...

, usurping religious and royal authority, selling assets to international investors, religious desecration, and siding with the forces of darkness.

Economic policies

see also: Policies of the Thaksin government#Economic and health policies and Thaksinomics

Thaksinomics

Thaksinomics is a term used to refer to the economic set of policies of Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001-2006. There has been considerable controversy over the role Thaksinomics has played in Thailand's recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis...

.

Thaksin's government had designed its policies to appeal to the rural majority, initiating programs like village-managed microcredit

Microcredit

Microcredit is the extension of very small loans to those in poverty designed to spur entrepreneurship. These individuals lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history and therefore cannot meet even the most minimal qualifications to gain access to traditional credit...

 development funds, low-interest agricultural loans, direct injections of cash into village development funds (the SML scheme), infrastructure development, and the One Tambon One Product

One Tambon One Product

One Tambon One Product is a local entrepreneurship stimulus program designed by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra during the 2001-2006 Thai Rak Thai government. The program aims to support the unique locally made and marketed products of each Thai tambon...

 (OTOP) rural small and medium enterprise development program.

Thaksinomics

Thaksinomics

Thaksinomics is a term used to refer to the economic set of policies of Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001-2006. There has been considerable controversy over the role Thaksinomics has played in Thailand's recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis...

, Thaksin's economic policies helped to accelerate Thailand's economic recovery from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and substantially reducing poverty. The GDP grew from THB 4.9 trillion at the end of 2001 to THB 7.1 trillion at the end of 2006. Thailand repaid its debts to the International Monetary Fund

International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...

 2 years ahead of schedule. Between 2000 and 2004, income in the poorest part of the country, the Northeast, rose 40 per cent while nation-wide poverty fell from 21.3 per cent to 11.3 per cent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand

Stock Exchange of Thailand

The Stock Exchange of Thailand is the national stock exchange of Thailand. It is located in Bangkok. As of 31 December 2007, the Stock Exchange of Thailand had 541 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of $280 billion. The indices of the stock exchange are SET Index, SET50 Index...

 outperformed other markets in the region. After facing fiscal deficits in 2001 and 2002, Thaksin balanced the national budget

Balanced budget

A balanced budget is when there is neither a budget deficit or a budget surplus – when revenues equal expenditure – particularly by a government. More generally, it refers to when there is no deficit, but possibly a surplus...

, producing comfortable fiscal surpluses for 2003 to 2005. Despite a massive program of infrastructure investments, a balanced budget

Balanced budget

A balanced budget is when there is neither a budget deficit or a budget surplus – when revenues equal expenditure – particularly by a government. More generally, it refers to when there is no deficit, but possibly a surplus...

 was projected for 2007. Public sector debt fell from 57% of GDP in January 2001 to 41% in September 2006. Foreign exchange reserves doubled from US$30 billion in 2001 to US$64 billion in 2006.

Critics claim that Thaksinomics

Thaksinomics

Thaksinomics is a term used to refer to the economic set of policies of Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001-2006. There has been considerable controversy over the role Thaksinomics has played in Thailand's recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis...

 is little more than a Keynesian-style economic stimulus policy re-branded as something new and revolutionary. Economists from the Thailand Development Research Institute argue that other factors, such as a revival in export demand, were the primary cause behind the economy's recovery. Others claimed that the policies got the rural poor "hooked on Thaksin's hand-outs."

Thaksin helped bring part of Thailand's massive underground lottery system into the legal fold by operating a successful numbers game

Numbers game

Numbers game, also known as a numbers racket, policy racket or Italian lottery, is an illegal lottery played mostly in poor neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a bettor attempts to pick three digits to match those that will be randomly drawn the following day...

 (Thai: หวย) run by the Government Lottery Office. Lottery sales of approx. 70 billion THB (2 billion USD) are used for social projects, including the "One District, One Scholarship" program which provided one student from a low-income family in each district with a scholarship to study overseas. Soon after Thaksin was deposed, the junta banned the lottery, claiming it was a social vice. This lured the poor away from work into gambling addiction. In addition, the Supreme Court ruled that the Cabinet did not have the right to introduce the lottery without due political process. The scholarship program was also stopped. The military junta also claimed that Thaksin's government "mischievously spent the proceeds in any way it saw fit".

The Thaksin government reduced the state's control of the media by privatizing MCOT, a large television and radio broadcaster.

After the 2006 coup, many of Thaksin's economic policies were stopped, the OTOP program was rebranded, the Government Lottery Office's program was deemed illegal, and the government nationalized several media outlets and energy companies.

Healthcare policies

Thaksin initiated two key healthcare policies: subsidized universal health care and low-cost universal access to anti-retroviral HIV medication (ARVs). Thaksin's 30-baht/visit universal healthcare program won the applause of the general public, but was criticized by many doctors and officials. Prior to the program's introduction, a large portion of the population had no health insurance and limited access to healthcare. The program helped increase access to healthcare from 76% of the population to 96% of the population. The program also increased workloads for healthcare employees, and caused many doctors to switch to higher paying careers. It has been criticized for being underfunded. The program led some hospitals to seek alternative sources of income, leading to a boom in the medical tourism

Medical tourism

Medical tourism is a term initially coined by travel agencies and the mass media to describe the rapidly-growing practice of travelling across international borders to obtain health care...

 industry, with 1.3 million foreign patients earning Thailand 33 billion THB (approx. 800 million USD) in 2005.

Post-coup Public Health Minister Mongkol Na Songkhla called the 30-baht program a "marketing gimmick" and claimed that the government would "very soon" stop charging patients any fees for visits to state hospitals.

During the Thaksin government, the number of people living with HIV/AIDS as well as the overall prevalence rate

Prevalence

In epidemiology, the prevalence of a health-related state in a statistical population is defined as the total number of cases of the risk factor in the population at a given time, or the total number of cases in the population, divided by the number of individuals in the population...

 noticeably declined. Although successful in expanding access to HIV medication, there have been concerns that a free trade agreement with the US could endanger Thailand's ability to produce generic HIV treatments.

Thaksin allowed the estimated 2.3 million migrant workers in Thailand to register and seek health coverage under the Thai national healthcare system. They were also eligible for work permits at the end of the registration period, entitling them to full labor protection. 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...

 Labour Group Committee Pongsak Plengsaeng criticized the move, claiming that it would lead to unemployment amongst Thais.

Anti-drug policies

Thaksin initiated several highly controversial policies to counter a boom in the Thai drug market, particularly in methamphetamine

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...

. After earlier anti-drug policies like border blocking (most methamphetamine is produced in Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

), public education, sports, and promoting peer pressure against drug use proved ineffective, Thaksin launched a multi-pronged suppression campaign that aimed to eradicate methamphetamine use in 3 months. The policy consisted of changing the punishment policy for drug addicts, setting provincial arrest and seizure targets, awarding government officials for achieving targets, targeting dealers, and "ruthless" implementation.

In the first three months, the Human Rights Watch reports that 2,275 people were killed. The Government claimed that only around 50 of the deaths were at the hands of the police. Human rights critics say a large number were extrajudicially executed. The government went out of its way to publicize the campaign, through daily announcements of arrest, seizure, and death statistics.

According to the Narcotics Control Board, the policy was effective in reducing drug consumption, especially in schools.

King Bhumibol, in his 2003 birthday speech, supported Thaksin's anti-drugs approach, although he did request the commander of the police to categorize the deaths between those killed by police and those killed by fellow drug dealers. Police Commander Sant Sarutanond reopened investigations into the deaths, and again found that few of the deaths were at the hands of the police. Thaksins anti-drug approach was widely criticized by international community. Thaksin requested that the UN Commission on Human Rights send a special envoy to evaluate the situation, but said in an interview, "The United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 is not my father. I am not worried about any UN visit to Thailand on this issue."

After the 2006 coup, the military junta ordered another investigation into the anti-drug campaign. Former Attorney General Kanit Na Nakhon chaired the special investigative committee. "The special committee will be tasked with an investigation to find out the truth about the deaths as well as to identify remedial measures for their relatives", said Justice Minister Charnchai Likhitjittha. The committee found that as many as 1400 of the 2500 killed had no link to drugs. However, while giving the opinion that orders to kill came from the top, the panel failed to establish sufficient evidence to charge Thaksin directly with the murders.

The Nation

The Nation (Thailand)

The Nation is a broadsheet, English-language daily newspaper founded in 1971 and published in Bangkok, Thailand, and is owned by the Nation Multimedia Group.The Nation is a member of the Asia News Network...

 (an English-language newspaper in Thailand) reported on November 27, 2007:

"Of 2,500 deaths in the government's war on drugs in 2003, a fact-finding panel has found that more than half was not involved in drug at all. At a brainstorming session, a representative from the Office of Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) Tuesday disclosed that as many as 1,400 people were killed and labeled as drug suspects despite the fact that they had no link to drugs. ... Senior public prosecutor Kunlapon Ponlawan said it was not difficult to investigate extra-judicial killings carried out by police officers as the trigger-pullers usually confessed."

Corruption

Transparency International

Transparency International

Transparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide...

 reported that Thailand's reputation for transparency among business executives improved during the years of the Thaksin government. In 2001, Thailand's Corruption Perceptions Index

Corruption Perceptions Index

Since 1995, Transparency International publishes the Corruption Perceptions Index annually ranking countries "by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys." The CPI generally defines corruption as "the misuse of public power for private...

 (CPI) was 3.2 (ranked 61), whereas in 2005, the CPI was 3.8 (ranked 59).
However the a study of Worldwide Governance Indicators

Worldwide Governance Indicators

Based on a long-standing research program of the World Bank, the Worldwide Governance Indicators capture six key dimensions of governance between 1996 and present...

 by World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

 gave lower score on Control of Corruption during 2002-2005, Thaksin's government, compared to 1998-2000 of earlier government.
Thaksin himself has consistently denied any wrongdoing by himself or his Thai Rak Thai party.

Education policies

Thaksin implemented a major series of educational reforms during his government. Chief among those reforms was school decentralization, as mandated by the 1997 People's Constitution.
The policy was designed to delegated school management from the over-centralized and bureaucratized Ministry of Education to Tambon Administrative Organizations (TAOs). The plan met with massive widespread opposition from Thailand's 700,000 teachers, who would be deprived of their status as civil servants. There was also widespread fear from teachers that TAOs lack the skills and capabilities required to manage schools. In the face of massive teacher protests and several threats of school closure, Thaksin compromised and gave teachers whose schools were transferred to TAO management two years to transfer to other schools.

Other reforms included learning reform and related curricular decentralization, mostly through greater use of holistic education and less use of rote learning.

To increase access to universities for lower income people, Thaksin initiated the Student Loan Fund (SLF) and Income Contingency Loan (ICL) programs. The ICL granted loans regardless of financial status, and required recipients to start repayments when their salaries reach 16,000 Baht a month, with an interest rate equivalent to inflation from the day the loan was granted. The SLF had an eligibility limit on family income but carried interest of 1%, starting one year after graduation. The programs were merged and the income limit modified after Thaksin's government was overthrown.

Thaksin also initiated the controversial "One District, One Dream School" project, aimed at developing the quality of schools to ensure that every district has at least one high-quality school. The project was criticized, with some claiming that the only beneficiaries were Thaksin and companies selling computers and educational equipment. Many schools also fell deeply into debt in implementing the project, receiving less than adequate financial support from the central government.

In addition, Thaksin altered the state university entrance system. Whereas the former system relied exclusively on a series of nationally standardized exams, Thaksin pushed for a greater emphasis on senior high-school grades, claiming this would focus students on classroom learning rather than private entrance exam tutoring.

Thaksin initiated the Income Contingency Loan program to increase access to higher education. Under the program, needy students may secure a loan to support their studies from vocational to university levels. Thai banks had traditionally not given education loans. Thaksin made Thailand one of the first supporters of Nicholas Negroponte

Nicholas Negroponte

Nicholas Negroponte is an American architect best known as the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also known as the founder of the One Laptop per Child Association ....

's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, with the Thai Ministry of Education committing to purchase 600,000 units. However, the military junta later cancelled the project.

Energy policies

See also:Policies of the Thaksin government#Energy policies and Energy Industry Liberalization and Privatization (Thailand)

Energy Industry Liberalization and Privatization (Thailand)

The management of energy in Thailand has been in a process of liberalization and privatization which was initiated by the government of Anand Panyarachun.- Electricity generation and transmission :...

In energy policy, the Thaksin government continued the Chuan Leekpai

Chuan Leekpai

Chuan Leekpai was the Prime Minister of Thailand from September 20, 1992 to May 19, 1995 and again from November 9, 1997 to February 9, 2001. A third-generation Thai Chinese, Chuan was born in Trang province in a grass-roofed house. The walls of his family's house were woven from strips of...

 government's privatization agenda, but with important changes. Whereas the Chuan government's post-Asian financial crisis policies sought economic efficiency through industry fragmentation and wholesale power pool

Electricity market

In economic terms, electricity is a commodity capable of being bought, sold and traded. An electricity market is a system for effecting purchases, through bids to buy; sales, through offers to sell; and short-term trades, generally in the form of financial or obligation swaps. Bids and offers use...

 competition, Thaksin's policies aimed to create national champions that could reliably support stronger economic growth and become important players in regional energy markets. Thaksin also initiated a policy to encourage renewable energy and energy conservation. Many Thaksin-era energy policies were reversed following the 2006 coup.

South Thailand insurgency

A resurgence in violence began in 2001 in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand which all have a Muslim, ethnic Malay majority. There is much controversy about the causes of this escalation of the decades long insurgency. Attacks after 2001 concentrated on police, the military, and schools, but civilians have also been targets. Thaksin has been widely criticized for his management of the situation, in particular the storming of the Krue Se Mosque, the deaths of civilian protesters at Tak Bai in Army custody, and the unsolved kidnapping of Muslim-lawyer Somchai Neelapaijit

Somchai Neelapaijit

Somchai Neelapaijit , a Thai Muslim-lawyer and human rights activist, disappeared on March 12, 2004 during Thaksin Shinawatra's regime. Strongly suspected to be deceased, he is still the subject of an investigation launched in 2004...

.

In October 2004, 84 Muslim human rights protesters were killed at Tak Bai when the Army broke up a peaceful protest. The many detainees were forced at gunpoint to lie prone in Army trucks, stacked like cordwood. The trucks were delayed from moving to the detainment area for hours. Many detainees suffocated to death due to gross mishandling by the military. After the 2006 coup, the Army dropped all charges and investigations into Army misconduct related to the Tak Bai incident. Thaksin announced an escalation of military and police activity in the region. In July 2005, Thaksin enacted an Emergency Decree to manage the three troubled provinces. Several human rights organizations expressed their concerns that the decree might be used to violate civil liberties.

In March 2005, Thaksin established the National Reconciliation Commission, chaired by former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun

Anand Panyarachun

Anand Panyarachun was Thailand's Prime Minister twice, between 1991–1992 and once again in 1992. He was effective in initiating economic and political reforms, one of which was the drafting of Thailand's "Peoples' Constitution", which was promulgated in 1997 and abrogated in 2006...

 to oversee efforts to bring peace to the troubled South. In its final report released in June 2006, the commission proposed introducing Islamic law

Sharia

Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...

 and making Pattani-Malay (Yawi) an official language in the region. The Thaksin administration assigned a government committee to study the report, while Muslims urged the government to act faster in implementing the proposals.

Ministerial restructuring

One of the most visible of Thaksin's administrative reforms was the restructuring of government department and ministries, labeled the "big bang." It was hailed as a "historic breakthrough" and "the first major reorganization of ministries since King Chulalongkorn set up Thailand's modern system of departmental government in 1897." Such a restructuring had been studied for years as a means of undermining the perceived rigidities and inertia of the old system, but was never implemented until the Thaksin government.

The restructuring was designed to streamline the bureaucracy and focus it on performance and results. New ministries were carved out in Social and Human Security Development, Tourism and Sports, Natural Resources and Environment, Information and Communication Technology, and Culture.

CEO-governors

Thaksin transformed the role of provincial governors from ceremonial supervisors of ministry officials to active managers of government policy. Historically, central government ministries operated in the provinces through field offices headed by senior officials, who reported back to Bangkok. The Ministry of Interior appointed provincial governors whose role was largely ceremonial.

A key component of Thaksin's administrative reform policy, "CEO-governors" epitomized Thaksin's "transformation of the operating style of the traditional bureaucracy into a more results-oriented instrument that would be responsive." Piloted in 2001 and introduced in all provinces in October 2003, CEO-governors were put in charge of planning and coordinating provincial development and became accountable for overall provincial affairs. The "CEO governors" were assisted by "provincial CFOs" from the Ministry of Finance who reported directly to each governor. The CEO-Governors were authorized to raise funds by issuing bonds and were given an intensive training course. After the coup, the junta reverted the role of governors.

Foreign policies

Thaksin was fiercely attacked for tasking diplomats with supporting domestic economic programs, e.g., promoting OTOP products. Surapong Jayanama, former ambassador to Vietnam claiming that Thaksin's policies were "demeaning" and would do little to enhance Thailand's international stature.

Thaksin also initiated negotiations for several free trade agreements with China, Australia, Bahrain, India, and the US. This policy was also criticized, with claims that high-cost Thai industries could be wiped out.

Thailand joined George W. Bush's multinational coalition in the invasion of Iraq, sending a 423-strong humanitarian contingent. It withdrew its troops on 10 September 2004. Two Thai soldiers died in Iraq in an insurgent attack.

Thaksin has also announced that Thailand would forsake foreign aid, and work with donor countries to assist in the development of neighbors in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

Thaksin has also been attacked by influential former diplomats for acting undiplomatically with foreign leaders. Kasit Pirom, former Thai ambassador to Japan and the United States, noted at an anti-Thaksin rally "When Khun Thaksin went to the United Nations to attend a joint UN-Asean

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated ASEAN rarely ), is a geo-political and economic organization of ten countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Since then, membership has...

 session, he did not behave properly when addressing the session, which was co-chaired by the UN secretary-general and the Malaysian premier. In his address Thaksin did not mention the name of the Malaysian premier". Noted that Kasit Pirom is a member and has a long time close tie with Democratic Party, a major political party opposing Thaksin as it lost few elections to Thai Rak Thai Party.

However, he established close, friendly ties with the Burmese dictatorship, including extending the neighboring country a Bt. four billion credit line so it could conclude a satellite telecom deal with his family business.
Noted that during the time Thaksin was in his office as Prime Minister, he was ambitious to put Thailand as region leader. He proposed, and received with welcome from other South East Asian countries, economic treaty at sub-region level, to promote economic, technology and infra-structure development. Thai government has provided support funding and economic assistance program to her neighbouring country such as Laos, Cambodia.

Thaksin has also been attacked for his support of former Deputy Prime Minister Surakiart Sathirathai

Surakiart Sathirathai

Surakiart Sathirathai was, until September 19 2006, a Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand overseeing Foreign Affairs, Education and Culture.-Family and early career:...

's failed campaign to become UN Secretary General.

2005 re-election campaign

Under the slogans "Four Years of Repair Four years of Reconstruction" and "Building Opportunities", Thaksin and the TRT won landslide victories in the February 2005 elections

Thailand legislative election, 2005

General elections were held in Thailand on 6 February 2005. With a turnout of 60.7 percent, the Thai Rak Thai Party of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra won a landslide victory. Out of 500 seats in the House of Representatives, Thaksin's party won 374 seats, with its former coalition partner, the...

, sweeping 374 out of 500 seats in Parliament. The election had the highest voter turnout in Thai history.

Suvarnabhumi Airport

After more than 30 years of planning and debate, the Thaksin government completed the construction of the new Suvarnabhumi Airport

Suvarnabhumi Airport

Suvarnabhumi Airport , also known as Bangkok International Airport, is an international airport serving Bangkok, Thailand. It was officially opened for limited domestic flight service on 15 September 2006, and opened for most domestic and all international commercial flights on 28 September...

. The airport was officially opened a week after the overthrew of the government. It is one of the world's largest airports.

Some members of Thaksin's government were accused of corruption while overseeing the construction of Suvarnabhumi Airport

Corruption in the Suvarnabhumi Airport project

Allegations of corruption during the development of Suvarnabhumi Airport, the new international airport serving Bangkok, Thailand, have been made since the project's inception...

, the case is still under investigation.

Other criticisms

There have also been complaints that Thaksin-appointed relatives to senior positions in the civil service and independent commissions, for example by elevating his cousin, General Chaiyasit Shinawatra

Chaiyasit Shinawatra

Chaiyasit Shinawatra is a former commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army. As a cousin of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, his unexpected appointment was criticised as an act of nepotism....

, to Army commander-in-chief.
In August 2002, he was promoted from Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces Development Command to become Deputy Army Chief. Both General Chaiyasit and Defense Minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh

Chavalit Yongchaiyudh

General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh is a Thai politician and retired general. He was Thailand's 22nd Prime Minister from 1996 to 1997. He is of Sino-Thai and ethnic Lao descent....

 denied charges of nepotism at the time. General Chaiyasit replaced General Somthad Attanan as Army commander-in-chief. However, General Chaiyasit was replaced by General Prawit Wongsuwan in August 2004, after only a year in office. His replacement was in response to an escalation of violence in southern Thailand

South Thailand insurgency

An ethnic separatist insurgency is taking place in Southern Thailand, predominantly in the Malay Pattani region, made up of the three southernmost provinces of Thailand. Violence has increasingly spilling over into other provinces...

. Prawit was succeeded by Sonthi Boonyaratglin

Sonthi Boonyaratglin

General Sonthi Boonyaratglin is former Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army and former head of the Council for National Security, the military junta that ruled the kingdom. He is the first Muslim in charge of the mostly Buddhist army...

 in 2005.

Thaksin was also accused of interference after the Senate appointed Wisut Montriwat (former Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance) to the position of Auditor General, replacing Jaruvan Maintaka

Jaruvan Maintaka

Khun Ying Jaruvan Maintaka is the current Auditor-General of the Kingdom of Thailand. She refused to resign her position after the Constitutional Court of Thailand ruled that her nomination was illegal. She is well known for her public criticism of deposed Premier Thaksin Shinawatra...

.

Respected former Thai ambassador to the UN Asda Jayanama

Asda Jayanama

Asda Jayanama is a former career diplomat of the Kingdom of Thailand. He is noted for his criticisms of the Myanmar military regime, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and Former Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai.- Family and Education :...

, in an anti-Thaksin rally, claimed that Thaksin's two state visits to India were made in order to negotiate a satellite deal for Thaksin's family-owned Shin Corporation

Shin Corporation

Shin Corporation is one of the largest conglomerates in Thailand.- History :It was founded in 1983 as Shinawatra Computer by Thaksin Shinawatra, former Prime Minister of Thailand, and took on its current name in 1999, by using the first four letters of his last name...

. The accusation was countered by Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon

Kantathi Suphamongkhon

Dr. Kantathi Suphamongkhon is the 39th Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand. He served as Foreign Minister during the administration of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from 11 March 2005 until the military coup d'état on 19 September 2006.Suphamongkhon is now the University of...

, who attended the state visits with Thaksin.

Thaksin's government has been accused of exerting political influence in its crackdown on unlicensed community radio stations.

Thaksin often faced harsh comparisons. Social critic Prawase Wasi compared him to AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

, Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda

Prem Tinsulanonda

General Prem Tinsulanonda is a retired Thai military officer who served as Prime Minister of Thailand from March 3, 1980 to August 4, 1988. He now serves as the Head of the Privy Council of the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej....

 and Senator Banjerd Singkaneti

Banjerd Singkaneti

Banjerd Singkaneti is an Assistant Professor of Law at Thammasat University and a noted critic of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.-Education and early career:Banjerd completed an LL.B. at Bangkok's Ramkhamhaeng University. He received an LL.M...

 compared him to Hitler, Democrat spokesman Ong-art Klampaibul compared him to Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...

, and the newspaper The Nation

The Nation (Thailand)

The Nation is a broadsheet, English-language daily newspaper founded in 1971 and published in Bangkok, Thailand, and is owned by the Nation Multimedia Group.The Nation is a member of the Asia News Network...

compared him to Pol Pot

Pol Pot

Saloth Sar , better known as Pol Pot, , was a Cambodian Maoist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death in 1998. From 1976 to 1979, he served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea....

.

Thaksin has been engaged in a series of lawsuits brought by American businessman William L Monson regarding a cable-television joint venture the two partnered in during the 1980s.