Stop interfering, Thaksin tells army

He was speaking in a much anticipated video message to some 50,000 supporters as the opposition Democrat Party inched closer to forming a new government. It was a recorded speech, not a live phone-in as earlier expected.

"We're now in the middle of a coup d'état aimed at destroying democracy," he said, in reference to recent top brass involvement in the formation of a new government coalition.

He also accused the Constitution Court, which dissolved the pro-Thaksin People Power Party early in December for electoral fraud, of tampering with the Thai political system.

"Our system has lost a lot of credibility because we rely on a belief which is not true ... The system can't work because there are people distorting it, and society can't sustain that," he said.

"Let those who are interfering step back and allow the system to work. Let us know victory and defeat."

On a personal note, Thaksin said the root cause of all the problems he was facing today was that he had been vilified as an anti-monarchist and unlike even a cornered dog had nowhere to stand. "Is this what you want to do?" he asked his opponents.

Veera Musigapong, once a Thai Rak Thai executive and now co-host of the "Truth Today" television programme, earlier said that Thaksin's failure to make a live phone-in was due to the blocking of the pro-Thaksin MV TV cable-television channel since Friday night by his opponents.

Many pro-Thaksin websites also became inaccessible yesterday, and Veera himself admitted that "high technology" had been employed against pro-Thaksin sites. The Sunday Nation also discovered that mobile-phone signals at the Supachalasai Stadium were being interrupted sporadically yesterday evening. In the end, Veera told his supporters, he was told to ask Thaksin not to phone in by Snoh Thienthong, who is still struggling to put together a pro-Thaksin coalition government. The crowd appeared visibly disappointed, and some left in the middle of the pre-recorded speech.

In it Thaksin also criticised his foe the People's Alliance for Democracy for having occupied the airports and Government House, saying it had had a "severe impact" on Thailand and its investment climate.

"With the current political problems, it's hard to solve [the economic problem]," he said.

Thaksin also lambasted his former aide Newin Chidchob, who has apparently defected to join a coalition being formed by the opposition Democrat Party, for betraying him but urged all sides to reconcile.

In exile and a fugitive from justice, Thaksin remained confident that voters were behind him and said: "People know what is going on ... and they will show it when it's time to vote."