Thailand turned another page in its tumultuous chapter of modern politics on November 7, when former MP and red-shirt leader Nisit Sindhuprai was finally placed behind bars after six years as a fugitive.
Nisit had been on the run from a four-year sentence imposed by the Supreme Court over his role in a protest at the 2009 ASEAN summit. He was among 15 red-shirt chiefs who led thousands of anti-government protesters in storming the seaside venue of the summit, leading to its cancellation.
In September 2019, the Supreme Court sentenced all the defendants to four years in prison for public disorder and other offences. However, Nisit and most of the others skipped the verdict reading, triggering warrants for their arrest.
Reports differ on whether Nisit, 69, was arrested or turned himself in. According to some media outlets, he was arrested while hiding out in his home province of Roi Et in the Northeast. Other reports said he surrendered to the Crime Suppression Division.
He was sent to Pattaya Prison.
Crashing a summit
On April 10, 2009, thousands of anti-government protesters stormed the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel in Pattaya as regional leaders gathered there for the summit.
Heads of state who had already arrived were promptly evacuated, while planes carrying other leaders to Thailand turned back in mid-air.
The Abhisit Vejjajiva government, which hosted the annual meeting as ASEAN’s rotating chair, was forced into an embarrassing cancellation.
Spearheading the invasion by red-shirt supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was former MP Arisman Pongruangrong – one of the protest leaders still at large. Once inside the resort complex, Arisman called a press conference to demand Abhisit’s immediate resignation over what he called government aggression against the protesters.
Abhisit had been catapulted to power just months earlier, in December 2008, after the government of Thaksin’s brother-in-law, Somchai Wongsawat, collapsed following the court-ordered dissolution of his ruling People Power Party (PPP).
Abhisit’s Democrat Party was able to form a new government coalition with the help of several former Thaksin loyalists who defected from the disbanded party. Mass red-shirt protests followed, ending in a bloody 2010 crackdown by security forces that left at least 91 people dead.
The red shirts’ influence waned under military rule following the 2014 coup, as a new, youth-led protest movement emerged. Many red supporters were also dismayed when the Shinawatra-aligned Pheu Thai Party joined with parties led by former coup leaders to form a government following the 2023 election.
The red shirts had risen to prominence after Thaksin was ousted in the September 2006 military coup, defending the PPP-led governments of Samak Sundaravej and Somchai – regarded as Thaksin proxies – against protests by the yellow-shirt People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
Teacher turned politician
Nisit was born on March 12, 1956, in Roi Et. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Srinakharinwirot University, a master’s in political science from Thammasat University, and a doctorate in industrial business administration from King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang.
He began his career as a teacher in the Northeast before becoming a member of Roi Et’s Provincial Primary Education Commission and leader of a regional teachers’ group.
Nisit made his political debut in 2001 after being elected as an MP for his home province under the New Aspiration Party (NAP). The NAP – led by former prime minister General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh – merged with Thaksin’s ruling Thai Rak Thai Party shortly after the election. Nisit was re-elected as a Roi Et MP under the Thai Rak Thai banner in 2005.
Under Thaksin’s government, he was credited with creating the “At Samat model”, named after a poor district in Roi Et, to combat poverty in the Northeast. The resulting campaign saw Thaksin spend five days in At Samet, living with villagers and working alongside local officials in scenes broadcast nationwide.
However, the project was shelved after Thaksin was ousted from office.
Following the 2006 coup, Nisit led Thaksin supporters in protests against the post-coup government of General Surayud Chulanont.
When the pro-Thaksin red shirts formed an umbrella group named the Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship (DAAD), Nisit became one of its leaders. The DAAD later rebranded as the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, or UDD.
Nisit moved to the PPP after Thai Rak Thai was dissolved by court order in May 2007. He was elected as a Roi Et MP again in December that year.
The PPP was disbanded by court order in December 2008, but this time Nisit was among the party executives banned from politics for five years. He returned to contest the 2019 election as a Pheu Thai candidate but failed to get elected.
His daughter, Jiraporn Sindhuprai, was Prime Minister’s Office minister under the successive Pheu Thai-led administrations of Srettha Thavisin and Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
