Freed former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra

It is a particularly symbolic salvation in Thailand. Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra regained his freedom this Sunday morning, six months after returning from fifteen years of self-imposed exile.

The 74-year-old billionaire, in power from 2001 until a 2006 coup, was seen leaving a hospital in central Bangkok by police, wearing a corset around his neck and sitting next to his daughter Patongtarn, through his car windows. He then returned to his home in the capital.

Pardon from the King

Returning from exile on August 22, 2023, after 15 years abroad, Thaksin spent a total of only six months in detention, mostly at a police hospital in Bangkok, due to health problems.

Extremely popular in the early 2000s, especially among farmers in the north and northeast, he is suspected of making a pact with his former opponents, the monarchy and the military, to regain independence. Initially sentenced to eight years in prison for corruption and abuse of power, in September he benefited from a pardon by King Maha Vajiralongkorn who reduced his sentence to one year in prison. However, the mechanism for its conditional release is not yet known.

Thaksin Shinawatra is an old lion of Thai political life, maintaining influence through the family party, Pheu Thai, led by Patongtarn, hoping to continue the dynasty. He could become the third prime minister to bear the Shinawatra name, following his aunt (and Thaksin’s sister) Thaksin and Yingluck, who ruled the kingdom from 2011 to 2014 until the coup.

Red shirt versus yellow shirt

The mention of this surname evokes an old fracture in Thailand. Thaksin Shinawatra was as well-liked by the countryside, thanks to his pioneering redistributive policies, as he was hated by Bangkok’s traditional elites, who considered him populist and cynical towards King Bhumibol. While he is credited with managing the economy well, the leader who made his fortune in telecom has often been accused of mixing his private affairs with those of the state.

Tensions reached a peak during the protest movement between his supporters, the “red shirts”, and his opponents, the “yellow shirts”, linked to the monarchy. In 2010, the army opened fire on red shirt protests, killing more than 90 people.

Some longtime supporters now criticize him for reaching out to the military to encourage him to return to the country after his deportation to avoid justice. Indeed, Pheu Thai agreed to form a government coalition with pro-military groups who could not claim power following their landslide defeat in the 2023 elections. The agreement excluded the winning party, the reformists of Move Forward, from the 2023 elections. A major force of opposition in the eyes of the new generations.