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Published on October 4, 2007

He said Thaksin deserved to return home and be granted amnesty. Samak insisted Thaksin was wrongly accused of wanting to abolish the monarchy and turn himself into the president of a new republic.

He reiterated Thaksin was the victim of political "jealousy" that led to the coup last year, which plunged Thailand even deeper into a mess.

"These days, coups take place without rationale. They can't prove Thaksin is wrong. They couldn't nail him down and now we have a new party called People Power Party. The flowers you saw being given to soldiers right after the coup was 'staged' and one year after, the country is in regression and embarrassed.

"Thaksin is a true democrat," Samak told the audience of 3,000 plus at Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre, many of whom had spent at least Bt30,000 to get a seat.

 

(click to watch Samak make the speech)

Samak spent much of the  time defending Thaksin's various perceived ills, ranging from the war on drugs that saw 2,500 extra-judicial killings to ridiculing the government for its changing stance on legalising the underground lottery initiated by Thaksin.

He attacked the claim made by former junta leader Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin that imposing martial law was not a problem for "good people" by saying he had a problem in his recent campaign trip to the Northeast, as more than five people assembled in one place needed prior permission.

However, almost nothing was said about the policies of the new party aside from Samak's vow to "restore" the honour of the monarchy whose name was tainted by the coup makers who tried to "mislead the world that the King was behind the coup".

Pravit Rojanaphruk

 The Nation