Conversations with Thaksin: From Exile to Deliverance: Thailand's Populist Tycoon Tells His Story

Professor-cum-journalist Tom Plate’s latest book is both captivating and controversial. Conversations with Thaksin: From Exile To Deliverance: Thailand s Populist Tycoon Tells His Story is part of the author’s Giants of Asia series, in which he had published books based on interviews with Singapore’s Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysia’s Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed. This volume on Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006, has already created a stir in Thailand. Some bookstores refuse to sell the book because of its controversial contents. But then the subject himself is controversial. Based on extensive interviews between Thaksin and Mr. Plate at the former premier’s residence in Dubai, the book is easy to read and written in a breezy style, with background on Thai politics, especially since that fateful coup of 2006, skillfully woven into the narrative. One central theme is the complex relationship between Thaksin and the palace. Although the author does not elaborate on many details perhaps for fear of being charged under Thailand’s very strict lese majeste laws readers will be able to piece together the links between Thaksin, the coup and the role of the palace.
Mr Plate portrays Thaksin as being misunderstood by the royalists. King Bhumibol Adulyadej is considered the ultimate moral authority in Thai politics. Mr Plate uses his journalistic skill to get Thaksin to give his honest views on the much-revered monarchy and its defenders in high places… Mr Plate’s book thus deals with a pertinent question in Thai politics: a non-elective institution attempting to undermine an elective one. This raises the issue of whether the old argument made by the royalists that the monarchy is above politics might be questionable. This aspect of the monarchy has not been seriously discussed before because of legal restrictions. This book, in many ways, helps to push the boundary further in discussing the place of the monarchy in the Thai crisis… The other focal point in this book concentrates of Thaksins past. Mr Plate takes readers back to his childhood, family business, entry to politics and downfall… Thaksin is clearly trying to create a new persona in these interviews, If you take what he says at face value, he always thought about the poor and wanted nothing more than to improve people’s lives. “I am not worried about myself. I am worried about my country and the people”, he stressed on page 95. The former premier also turns benevolent, forgiving his enemies and yearning for a real reconciliation. This sounds touching and Mr Plate seems to feel at times that Thaksin is genuine. But this is definitely a different Thaksin from the one that Thai’s know. This book may help to whitewash Thaksin’s wrongdoing of the past years. He used the interviews to dismiss allegations against him. He rejected corruption charges as politically motivated. He claimed he was bullied even before his premiership in 2001, when his enemies accused him of concealing wealth. He denied the allegation that he abused his authority to secure a plot of land in a prime location for his then wife. He reiterated that he never funded the red-shirt movement, saying no to Mr Plate four times… But it would be wrong to suggest that Thaksin used Mr Plate, a seasoned journalist and interviewer. Having given the former premier his unvarnished say, Mr Plate sums up appropriately on page 168: Thaksin was far from perfect; he made some big mistakes, but everyone makes mistakes. But he did some things, and he expanded the parameter of democracy.
Whether you love him or hate him, this is an interesting book that shows a different side of Thaksin and would be of interest to keen observers of Thailand –Pavin Chachavalpongpun, The Straits Times, Singapore