"That was a self-imposed ban. It happened during the time General Chatichai Choonhavan was prime minister. I was accused of trying to overthrow the government because of my unrelenting criticism of his economic management policy. At the time, signs of a bubble economy were in the offing," Santi recalled.

"Farm land was selling like hot cakes for golf courses, resorts and other developments. Land speculation was rampant.

"Money was easy; so was conspicuous consumption. After selling their farmland, rural consumers quickly bought pickup trucks and motorcycles everywhere. I think the Chatichai policy was probably the prelude to the bursting of the economic bubble in 1997.

"General Chatichai was very upset by what I wrote regularly in my column. One day I got into trouble, and I was asked to leave the country. There was neither a legal case nor a court order: that was it. According to the late Thai Rath founder Kamphol Watcharaphol, I was supposed to stop writing the Page 4 column for a year. Others would fill in the space. So I went abroad. Then the Chatichai regime was overthrown by the military on the grounds of rampant corruption," said Santi.

After earning his degree from Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Journalism in 1972, Santi joined Ban Muang newspaper before moving to Thai Rath, where he started using Typhoon as his pen name.

"That reflected my personal philosophy in the early days of my journalistic career. As the name suggests, the column is supposed to run all evils in society aground, just like a violent tropical storm. Besides the Chatichai regime, I ran into trouble with former premier Chuan Leekpai, who took me to court for libel after I wrote that he was dictatorial in his handling of a massive farmers' uprising during his first term of office.

"At the time there was a big protest in Phitsanulok, and the government resorted to violent means to quell the demonstration, resulting in the death of a farmer. Today there's a monument to honour this unfortunate farmer in Phitsanulok. However, former premier Chuan responded to my criticisms with a lawsuit. Later there was mediation, and the case was dropped," Santi said.

As for Thaksin Shinawatra, he said it was time for the caretaker premier to bow out of politics, because he had already reached his pinnacle.

"After five years in office, it'd be better for him to step down at this juncture. On the positive side, I think Thaksin has done a number of useful things, but his economic management style has opened up the Thai economy too much and too fast to the outside world. In the financial-services sector, for instance, there are fewer and fewer majority Thai-owned brokerage houses or banks, and we insist on signing free-trade deals with giant economies like the US to open up our economy even further," he said.

Besides sharp political instincts honed over three decades of covering top politicians and dozens of premiers since Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn, Santi is also well versed in financial journalism. More than two decades ago he was given the green light by Thai Rath to start his own Money & Banking magazine, after the daily turned down his proposal to publish economic and financial news regularly.

"Kamphol told me I could set up my own title since Thai Rath at the time did not have a policy of extra pages for such news," he said.

That enterprise became Media Associated Group Co, which today publishes several magazine titles, including Money & Banking, Gourmet & Cuisine and @Kitchen. Money & Banking has grown steadily into a solid voice for the industry, investors, and consumers.

"We also compile and organise several annual rankings and awards such as Bank of the Year, Banker of the Year and the SET [Stock exchange of Thailand] awards for outstanding listed firms," Santi said.

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

nop1122@yahoo.com