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Backdown may cool Sondhi flare-up
 The Nation
December 7, 2005 - Media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul may have lost his sting now that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has unconditionally withdrawn all six criminal and civil lawsuits against him amounting to more than Bt2 billion.
The public will have to wait and see how Sondhi responds to Thaksin’s latest political manoeuvre, which not only complies with the wishes expressed by His Majesty the King during his birthday speech, but also undermines Sondhi’s mass rally on Friday.
Political observers believe Thaksin has effectively killed two birds with one stone by withdrawing the suits against Sondhi. He has won praise for being the bigger man and softening his stance, and he has also managed to calm discontent within his own Thai Rak Thai Party.
During the last several weeks of political turbulence, some factions of the party have gained more bargaining power and called for a Cabinet reshuffle.
Just two weeks ago, political and business confidence were at their lowest ebb as Thaksin’s public ratings fell to new lows in his second term in office. Thaksin’s critics were starting to think that he was losing his allies and his magical power. The question seemed to be not whether Thaksin would survive the full four-year term, but whether he would survive another year of political turmoil.
First he stopped giving his weekly press interviews for astrological reasons, now Thaksin has taken the heat out of politics and given himself a better chance of regaining control inside and outside his party.
But the most immediate effect is to take the heat out of Sondhi’s weekly anti-government show, which has caused widespread concern that it could prompt a repeat of the May 1992 bloodshed.
Sondhi earlier aimed to mobilise 500,000 supporters to his weekly “Muang Thai Rai Sapda” show at Lumpini Park. With that many anti-government protesters gathered in one place, ill-intentioned groups who want to plunge the nation toward political and economic unrest could easily trigger an unpleasant incident by firing a gunshot into the sky.
Academics have called on Sondhi to put the country first and end his destructive political manoeuvring. As a journalist, Sondhi is still entitled to question and investigate the country’s leader. However, he was urged to use constructive methods to deal with the nation’s problems instead of launching personal attacks against Thaksin.
It’s no secret that Sondhi’s motivation in instigating anti-government sentiment is not just safeguarding press freedoms and democracy. His roller-coaster relationship with Thaksin has been the subject of media scrutiny since the friendship turned sour after the PM deprived him of hundreds of millions of baht in TV business and scrapped his “Muang Thai Rai Sapda” show on Channel 9.
Sondhi has so far kept mum on his plans to get off the tiger’s back, but revered monk Luangta Maha Bua might have already presented him with a graceful exit. The monk has repeatedly called the pair to the negotiation table to iron out their differences before the heat reaches boiling point.
The media tycoon might now be in a position to heed the advice of the monk, who comes out with his weekly sermon every Thursday.
Phochana Phichitsiri |
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