There probably are few arriving to pay their respects to Lee Kuan Yew this weekend with as much mutual loathing as two Thai notables.
The press in Thailand has been making hay over a possible confrontation between Thai Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power there this past May in a military coup, and fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who Prayuth’s supporters pretty much blame for every bad moment there in the past decade from cronyism to corruption.
From Thaksin’s perspective, the military has thwarted democratic rule by removing him in 2006, and after the opposition still failed to win elections, it was Prayuth who pulled his younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra from power last year.
Thaksin is technically a wanted man for evading taxes, but will the general put him in a headlock and drag him to Changi Airport? Prayuth told the media he wouldn’t try to arrest Thaksin, which would also be a totally illegal action on Singaporean soil.
Meanwhile Thaksin has told sources that should he meet the general, he will come armed with that most Thai of responses: a nice big smile.
There probably are few arriving to pay their respects to Lee Kuan Yew this weekend with as much mutual loathing as two Thai notables.
The press in Thailand has been making hay over a possible confrontation between Thai Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha, who seized power there this past May in a military coup, and fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who Prayuth’s supporters pretty much blame for every bad moment there in the past decade from cronyism to corruption.
From Thaksin’s perspective, the military has thwarted democratic rule by removing him in 2006, and after the opposition still failed to win elections, it was Prayuth who pulled his younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra from power last year.
Thaksin is technically a wanted man for evading taxes, but will the general put him in a headlock and drag him to Changi Airport? Prayuth told the media he wouldn’t try to arrest Thaksin, which would also be a totally illegal action on Singaporean soil.
Meanwhile Thaksin has told sources that should he meet the general, he will come armed with that most Thai of responses: a nice big smile.