"Thaksin, Where are you?"

Sunisa and her book

Army commanderinchief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin said he has ordered an investigation into Lt Sunisa Lertpakawat, who is the author of the newly published, "Thaksin, Where Are You?"

The investigation would focus on Lt Sunisa's visit to London to interview Thaksin for the book with prior approval from her immediate superiors, Sonthi said.

"Thaksin, Where Are You?" hits the book stores on Wednesday, offering a glimpse into a daily life of the former prime minister, who is now living in exile in London.

 Sonthi said Sunisa, who is an officer in the army's secretariat office, had not received proper authorisation from her boss to interview Thaksin in London.

Meanwhile, Sunisa told The Nation online that she travelled to England at her own expense and, after "crying and begging" and long negotiations with his secretary, was granted two interview sessions, each lasting about seven hours, with Thaksin in London in May and June.

She has always aspired to become a writer. She said she had saved her money and paid Bt100,000 for the travel expenses to London.

Learning that the army will order an investigation into her and her book, Sunisa said she accepted any probe or punishment from her boss. "I've already extended my apology to my boss for not informing him about the book and the travel to London," she said.

Meanwhile, Sonthi told reporters that he would not order the book to be withdrawn from bookstore shelves.

Sunisa first got into contact with Noppadol Pattama, the lawyer of Thaksin, about a project to interview the former prime minister in London. But the plan did not work out. Later on, she tried to get in touch with Phadoong Limcharoenrat, Thaksin's secretary. Again, it did not work out.

By the end of May 2007, she decided to travel to London in order to interview Thaksin. At that time, the Constitution Tribunal was deliberating the case against the Thai Rak Thai Party.

"I planned my work very well because if I were to have an opportunity to interview him about that legal case, it would get the attention from the public," she said.

She insisted that she had never known Thaksin before. But eventually, he let her interview him.

"I would like to explain to those who do not like Thaksin that if they have read this book, they would find that the book is not trying to make any excuse for him. It is just a pocket book that offers an interview on Thaksin so that people who have no chance to talk to him can learn about it," she said.

"I just wrote the book based on the interview from his own words without deciding which are facts or which are nonfacts."

 

Sunisa said it has cost her Bt100,000 to travel to London to do the interview and would cost another Bt100,000 to publish the book for 3,000 volumes. But at this point, she does not have a lot of money so she has decided to publish only 1,000 volumes.

"There is nobody sponsoring my trip," she said.

However, Sunisa has got instant fame as author of Thaksin, where are you? One of the most talkabout subjects of her book is Thaksin's admittance that he knows Sarunrat Visutthithada

or Lydia, the singer. Thaksin said he likes to sing karaoke songs with her.

Earlier Army Commander in Chief Gen Sonthi Bunyaratglin said he has ordered an investigation of Sunisa.

Sonthi said the probe will focus on the fact that Lt Sunisa travelled to London to interview Thaksin for her book without informing her superiors, Sonthi said.

The book that hit the shelves on Wednesday detailed the daily life of the exiled former prime minister.

 Sonthi said Sunisa, who is an officer in the army's secretariat office, had not received authorisation from her boss to interview Thaksin in London.

Meanwhile, Sunisa told The Nation online that she travelled to England at her own expense and, after "crying and begging" and long negotiations with his secretary, was granted two sevenhour interviews with Thaksin in London in May and June.

Learning that the army will order an investigation into her and her book, Sunisa said she accepted any probe or punishment from her boss. "I've already extended my apology to my boss for not informing him about the book and the travel to London," she said.

However she reiterated that she will pursue her dream to become a writer.

Meanwhile, Sonthi told reporters that he will not order the book to be withdrawn from bookstore shelves.