Streetwise: Yingluck in "Red" coat

It was therefore a surprise for reporters to see Yingluck Shinawatra, chairman of SC Asset, in a red coat even though the company's recently changed logo is orange.

In a country where division runs deep, red now means those who are against the Abhisit Vejjajiva government, in the same way as yellow represents those against any governments believed to work in the name of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Yingluck, the youngest sister of Thaksin, has so far refrained from commenting about whether she would enter the political scene. At the SC Asset event last weekend, she was frequently asked that very question. Every time, she laughed and said: "Could we please focus on SC Asset?"

Indeed, reporters should not have asked the question.

Following the dissolution of the People Power Party, Yingluck attended the first meeting of the Pheu Thai Party. As a matter of fact, both were the sister parties of Thai Rak Thai, which was founded by her brother.

She currently serves as an executive of Pheu Thai. Indeed, some in the party wanted her to run for last year's election in Chiang Mai, the hometown of Thaksin. But others stopped her from doing so, for fear that Yingluck would add fire to the boiling political atmosphere and give opponents ammunition they could use against Pheu Thai.

Yingluck has been Thaksin's favourite sister. She worked closely under him, starting with an executive role in M-Link, the enterprise set up to sell GSM mobile phones.

When Thaksin sold out his stake in Shin Corp, Yingluck was given the top job at SC Asset. SC Asset is undoubtedly Thaksin's family business, for the company's old name was OAI Property. The nicknames of Thaksin's three children are Oak, Aim and Ing.

Needless to say, Yingluck is close to her brother. At last weekend's party, she admitted that she still talked to him quite frequently.

However, she said as she cruised along the Chao Phya, she wore the red coat without any thought about politics.

"The weather is cool and I just found this coat in the closet. I dusted it off, thinking that the colour perfectly fits the Chinese New Year," she said.

Yes, we believe her, for now. But what would be the reason for all of the company's employees, who also wore red that day?