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Published on February 29, 2008

Although the foreign media observed him closely from the moment he stepped back on Thai soil, most took the line that Thailand's problems are far from over.

The Economist, the British magazine that asked if Thaksin was "Tycoon or Thai Con?" on the cover of its January 2001 edition, said the restoration of an elected government may help improve stability in the country. But it did not rule out the possibility that Thaksin's return, and a possible court case against People Power executive Yongyuth Tiyapairat, could increase the likelihood of turmoil.

The charges against PPP's deputy leader Yongyuth could lead to the party being dissolved in the same manner as Thai Rak Thai last May.

While most news agencies presented Thaksin's return in a straightforward manner, most continue to paint the conflict as a fight between Thaksin and the military, ignoring the fact it was the Thai courts that kept him on his toes. Almost from the start of his first administration, Thaksin had problems with money, or there was a sense he couldn't get enough of it, to be blunt.

He came to power in early 2001 amid allegations of hiding his assets. In the end he got away with parking billions of baht in his servants' accounts.

But today, 17 months after his ouster, no one appears to be following the money trail anymore. Only the Ratchadaphisek land scandal made it to court, while the SC Assets share concealment case is still with the Attorney General's office. The rest of the charges, who knows?

For many media outlets, the Thaksin-General Prem Tinsulanonda bout was old news. It was not too long ago that Jakrapob Penkair, one of Thaksin's devout followers who sometimes referred to his boss as "dear leader", led hundreds of angry supporters to the president of the Privy Council's house and threatened to kick down the door.

But while Thaksin insists he has quit politics for good, at a press conference yesterday afternoon, he hinted that he doesn't have to be premier to direct the government. Political leaders and bureaucrats who come to seek his advice were friends, he said.

But over the past year and a half, just about everything Thaksin has done in exile appears to have centred on one thing: staying in the public spotlight - the expensive public relations firm, the English soccer team, popping up here and there for speaking engagements, and so on. He was hoping for a hero's welcome yesterday, like a long lost son returning to his motherland. Although enthusiastic, it was hardly the return of Ayatollah Khomeini. Let's hope, for the sake of Thailand, it won't be a Benazir Bhutto.

Issues raised by the foreign media don't, sadly, appear to be of huge interest to the Thai public. A couple months ago, The Sunday Times in London ran a lengthy article about Thaksin's role in the controversial "War on Drugs" that ended in the lives of more than 2,500 people, killed extrajudicially. And The Guardian warned against his purchase of Manchester City, saying it could come back to haunt England because of his dark and questionable past.

His government's controversial handling of the insurgency in the Malay-speaking South was also widely reported by the foreign media. But that, too, is often treated with indifference by the Thai public.

Don Pathan

The Nation