Newin: the real man behind the scenes

Newin was hailed for helping the Democrats take power, but now he has dropped in people's estimation because he failed to protect the government from the red shirts. Which makes us wonder - has he been conspiring to destroy the very government he helped set up?

First, the red-shirt protesters accused Newin of mobilising blue shirts to clash with them in Pattaya, which led to the cancellation of the Asean summit. Before that, Newin was accused of sending blue shirts to Suvarnabhumi Airport, ready for an encounter with red shirts if they brought their rally to the airport.

The red shirts claimed that Newin was stirring the pot to make their movement and their leader Thaksin Shinawatra look bad in the eyes of the public. Some even wondered if Newin was behind the burning of public buses and the raiding of the mosque on Phetburi Soi 7.

Then Newin was seen as the man behind the attack on People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leader Sondhi Limthongkul last week.

Sondhi's son Jittanart told reporters that the attack could only be politically motivated, and had been organised by someone who was either his father's political enemy or someone who saw him as an obstacle.

He also said he had heard that a former politician, who once served under Thaksin, was behind the assassination attempt, adding that the blue and the red shirts were not enemies.

Jittanart's remarks point clearly to the person who could be his father's political enemy.

It's been widely known that the ties between Sondhi and the ruling Democrats, especially deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, had turned sour shortly after the government was formed because many of his demands were rejected.

Sondhi could not get his men to sit in some state-enterprise boards and have the police and military reshuffled, while Newin succeeded in everything. This infuriated Sondhi and he lashed back by demanding that Suthep be sacked because he could not control the red-shirts in Pattaya.

However, the reason behind this demand was not as simple as that. He wanted Suthep removed because he is too close to Newin.

It is understandable why the Democrats and Suthep had chosen to stand beside Newin instead of Sondhi. Without Newin and his Bhum Jai Thai Party, the Democrats could have not come into power.

Newin was chosen because he is a better weapon to counter Thaksin with, especially since he worked with the former leader and can more or less predict his every move.

Still, the Democrats might be getting a bit wary of Newin, especially since he is now suspected to have been behind the unrest in Pattaya and the attack on the vehicles of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his secretary-general Niphon Promphan. It has been reported that the Democrats are indeed doubting Newin's actual motives.

With all this in place, Newin might not really have that much of a chance to expand his political base, especially if he becomes a common enemy of the red and yellow shirts, as well as the Democrats.