• 
• 
• 

Matichon said that the scheduled speech by Thaksin had received much attention from Thais, especially as it coincided with the Asean Summit meeting in Thailand.

Matichon said that over the past week, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had made it clear for the first time that he wished to see Thaksin come back to Thailand to serve his prison sentence for abuse of power in his ex-wife's land purchase deal, and to face trial on other charges. Abhisit was quoted as saying that the question of Thaksin's return would depend on cooperation with the Chinese authorities.

Prior to this, different agencies - including public prosecutors and the police - seemed to be in disagreement over who would be responsible for bringing Thaksin back. Even Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya has not actively proceeded with an extradition the case. It seems that no government agency is willing to take any responsibility for this matter.

The police have also been slow in withdrawing Thaksin's police ranking, while the Abhisit government has not been enthusiastic about stripping Thaksin of his rank. The government might be afraid that the withdrawal of Thaksin's rank would create a huge outcry among Thaksin's supporters.

If Thaksin did make an appearance before foreign reporters, whatever he said would certainly attract attention from both Thais and foreigners. The fact that he planned to use Hong Kong as a place to reside in and to make speeches that would inevitably criticise the Thai government is indeed controversial. Doing so might prompt a firmer reaction from the Abhisit government.

Meanwhile, time will tell whether Abhisit is serious when he says that he wants Thaksin to come back to serve his sentence and face trial in Thailand.

Thus, when Thaksin said he would cancel his appearance - saying he did not want his presence in Hong Kong to damage bilateral relations between China and Thailand, and claiming he was "very annoyed by the hoo-ha" over his scheduled speech - he must have realised that by going ahead, he would have caused more damage to himself, said Matichon.

Thaksin could, instead, choose to make a speech via video-link because he might view this as being safer for him. But Matichon said that regardless of what channel Thaksin might choose to make a speech, he will have to be fully responsible for the consequences of whatever he says.