Tycoon turned politician says Thailand needs a new tack
Tycoon Prachai Leophairatana, the founder of Thai Petrochemical Industry Plc (TPI), has turned to politics as secretary-general of the new Pracharaj Party. He talked to The Nation's Sucheera Pinijparakarn about his political views.
Why did you turn to politics? I had thought about it for many months. At first, I didn't intend to be a politician because I had my business interests. But, as a businessman, you cannot draw people's attention, while a politician can, so I changed my mind. Why did you choose the Pracharaj Party? I and party founder Snoh Thien-thong have the same ideology to improve the country and to make people rich. It has to begin with developing local communities. Our idea is not the same as Thai Rak Thai's, which uses only money to solve people's problems, and ultimately leaves people in debt.
How much will you spend on the general election? The money is only a small matter for us. Today, we don't want to talk about money. After we get the new commission, the election will be fair. We have no need to spend a lot of money for ballots. Instead, we will use [political] experience and morality to fight Thai Rak Thai. If we were still under the former election commissioners, we would not run in the election because we would be absolutely defeated by the amount of money Thai Rak Thai would spend.
Do you have a target as far as how many MPs you can get elected? My leader can answer this question, but I can say we have an opportunity to be the party that forms the government. If you can form a government, is it possible you might join with Thai Rak Thai? I don't think so. Thai Rak Thai has a bad background. In my view, it is a disgusting party. We would never co-ordinate with Thai Rak Thai unless its leader Thaksin Shinawatra improved himself.
Is Pracharaj the anti-Thaksin party? No.
What have you learned from the Mahachon Party, which was launched as a new political alternative but has failed? The situation was not on its side. I don't know what's gone wrong with Mahachon. But now the political situation has changed because we are to contest the election under a new Election Commission.
Did you enter politics because you want to bring TPI back? No. That's not the reason. I don't want to bring TPI back. I just demand legitimacy for Thais and want to make our economy and country strong again. [TPI was the biggest casualty of the baht's devaluation in 1997, which left it with debts of more than Bt139 billion.]
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