More than 600 protesters marched from Lumpini Party to the embassy, waving banners and placards reading, "Close Relations With Singapore," Don't Buy Singapore Products and Don't Use Singapore Services and Banks.
Some placards depicted pictures of Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong and his wife, Ho Ching, executive director of Temasek Holdings stating "Singapore, Get Out!" During the protest, some protesters burnt the placards.
The protestors submitted a letter to the embassy demanding the Singapore government end its 15-year agreement with Thailand to rent military bases in the kingdom and calling on Singaporeans to help their cause.
"We, on behalf of the Thai people, would like to call upon the people of Singapore to assist us by scrutinizing the business conduct of Temasek Holdings and the rental of military bases in Thailand, as well as applying pressure on the Singapore Government to adhere strictly to transparency and good governance and to abstain from interfering in other countries' internal affairs by cancelling the purchase of Shin Corporation's shares and removing its military bases from Thailand," the letter said.
The Bt73.3 billion sale by Shin Corp which belong to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family has outraged many Thais because it was tax free and amounted to selling off sensitive sectors to a foreign government.
This was the fifth protests of members of People's Alliance for Democracy in front of the Singapore Embassy. Embassy officials have told the protesters that the Singapore government could not get involved with the deal even though the holding company is wholly government-owned.
The protesters have warned that the boycott would lead to at least 3 million subscriber cancellations of the Advanced Info Service (AIS), the mobile phone service owned by Shin Corp.
The Nation