Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has urged Thai people to trust their own people and not to believe what Cambodian strongman Hun Sen has said about him, as he claimed that he lacks ethics.
He also accused the Bhumjaithai party, without naming it, of labelling him as a traitor for allegedly leaking confidential information of the Abhisit government to Hun Sen, as claimed by Hun Sen in his latest attack on him.
“I am not sure whether he (Bhumjaithai party leader Anutin Charnvirakul) is Thai or a Cambodian,” Thaksin said during his address on the topic of “Unlocking Thailand’s Future”, at an event held Thursday night by the Mass Communications Organisation of Thailand at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.
Arriving home in Thailand in August 2023, after almost two decades of living in self-imposed exile, Thaksin said he found Thailand unable to move forward, similar to the situation confronted by the government of late prime minister Kukrit Pramoj more than 50 years ago.
He claimed, however, that his government, led by the Thai Rak Thai party, managed to make progress in several areas but, unfortunately, the progress was halted when a coup toppled his administration.
Thaksin said that politics are fluid, but national development should proceed uninterrupted. To achieve national progress, he stressed that all sectors in Thai society must work as a team.
On the tariff talks with the US, Thaksin said the Thai negotiating team, led by Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira, has been trying to close a deal in such a way that sensitive sectors, such as agriculture and SMEs, would be least affected.
He said that tariff talks are an ongoing process, which can be resumed until the outcome is satisfactory.
Thaksin went on to claim that the reduction of Chinese tourist arrivals was not being caused by Thailand’s entertainment complex (casino) issue, but by safety problems, following the case of a Chinese actor who was duped into working at a call centre in Myanmar.
Safety is key to the tourism business, said Thaksin, adding that he is ready to pay compensation to any tourist who is robbed or harmed while in Thailand.
For the entertainment complex project, he insisted that a casino is vital, adding that there must, however, be screening of people entering it.
