WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Ousted PM Thaksin retakes center stage
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-06-05 10:52

 The demonstrators say Samak is merely a puppet for Thaksin, who returned to Thailand from self-imposed exile this year after his allies won parliamentary elections.

Samak has been accused of trying to amend the military-backed constitution to prevent Thaksin from facing justice. Banned from politics for another four years, Thaksin faces an array of corruption-related charges, but none has yet come to trial.

"His intervention in this government is clear," said Suriyasai Katasila, a protest leader. "He may be banned from politics but we see his fingerprints everywhere."

Flexing its muscles, the PAD also demanded the resignation of Jakrapob Penkair, a minister and close Thaksin ally, whom they accuse of insulting much-revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej in a speech last August.

His resignation defused some of the tension but the demonstrators have vowed to continue until the government is toppled.

"It is a battle between two elite groups," said Ji Ungpakorn, a political science professor at Chulalongkorn University. "They want the rest of society to join their side ... and both sides want to claim the mantle of legitimacy from the palace."

Given the king's great popularity and power, both sides claim loyalty to the constitutional monarchy, but the protest leaders accuse Thaksin and his allies of trying to usurp the king's central role.

The ex-prime minister also remains deeply resented by opponents for his autocratic ways and allegedly massive corruption during his 2001-2006 time in power.

But the victory of his allies in the December elections highlighted the failure by coup leaders and the country's establishment to eradicate his legacy even after the coup, a new military-backed constitution and the launch of criminal investigations against him.

"Whether you like him or not, there is no denying that Thaksin's phenomenon has irreversibly changed Thailand's political landscape," Thitinan said. "That's what the protests were about then and that's what they are about now."

To bring Thaksin down, Thitinan says those allied against him are trying to lay the foundation for more military intervention.

But analysts note the military is unlikely to stage what would be an unpopular coup, with little support domestically and internationally.