# Thaksin Shinawatra Rumored Dead



## gino (Jul 20, 2009)

Thaksin Shinawatra Rumored Dead

By Drew Noyes 

The rumor that Thaksin is dead may have been a factor in the current government's decision to dissolve Parliament and call for new elections, including the prime minister spot, as the realization of the added anarchy and added bloodshed which would ensue if he died and when he dies.

Embattled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, one of the most influential, charismatic, yet polarizing characters in Thai politics, is dead according to sources. Mr. Thaksin was the first prime minister in Thailand's history to lead an elected government through a full term in office and remains so to this day.

The gossip across Bangkok, Pattaya and Hua Hin is that the Thai tycoon is either dead or very close to it. And that accounts of his frequent travels to numerous countries are theoretically designed to convince ordinary Thais that he is still in full health when many believe that he is either dead or near-death due to terminal prostate cancer.

However, the leader of the Red Shirts in Pattaya and one of Mr. Thaksin’s oldest and closest friends, former Member of Parliament Mr. Chanyut Hengtrakul told the Pattaya Times, “He is not dead. I talk to him almost every day.”

When asked when the last time he spoke to Mr. Thaksin Mr. Chanyut said, “Yesterday.”

Mr. Thaksin’s sister, Mrs. Yawarsaate Chokesuriyakiat, was recently seen entering her Pattaya condo dressed in all black, the color of mourning. However, this may be a conscience.

The debate about this conspiracy theory is so widespread that it's verging on the ridiculous.

Supporters say Mr. Thaksin posted photos of himself on his Facebook page but people still won't believe that he's alive and kicking. Opponents point to the fact that the video conferences to supporters stopped more than a week ago when the rumor of his death began.

A few wrongheaded decisions have been made. The Red Shirts lost significant public support when they broke into a hospital to search for troops who they believed were hiding inside, scaring staff and patients witless. No soldiers were found. That's when the void left by Mr. Thaksin became obvious.

An audio recording of his most recent interview is being circulated on social networking site Twitter where there's intense discussion about its authenticity. There's speculation that the interviewee is someone else whose voice has been altered to make him sound like Mr. Thaksin.

Rumors are Mr. Thaksin’s family wants permission to return his body to be cremated in Chiang Mai, but government officials fear his death will make him a martyr and could cause more civil unrest and disobedience, sources say.

When and if Mr. Thaksin died is unclear, but several sources say he died April 30 while he was undergoing the third of six chemotherapy injections for treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

On April 25 his family flew from Thailand to be at his side, sources say. His ex-wife, Pojaman, was by his side at his death and used all of her resources to try to get him to a world-class hospital, but because of the conviction in absentia on a conflict of interest charge for which he faced a two-year jail sentence if he returned to Thailand, he was blacklisted from entry into all countries with which Thailand has strong relations and reciprocal fugitive agreements.

He had been issued new passports from Nicaragua and Montenegro and conducted a series of high-profile interviews with foreign news outlets slamming the current government as a “puppet of the military” and saying the land dealing his wife was convicted over were “the same things all the other Prime Ministers did.”

As his cancer advanced he wanted to go for treatment at the world’s leading hospitals, but he was denied entry to Germany, the UK and every other country. His wife allegedly was able to get a leading oncologist from Bumrungrad Hospital in Dubai or the main branch in Thailand, location not confirmed, to fly to Turkey where he was bedridden, but the first injection made him extremely sick and the third killed him, the rumor mill has it.

The Supreme Court has stripped his family of $1.4 billion baht, half his reported net worth, in contested assets over allegations of corruption and conflicts of interest. However, always the fighter, Mr. Thaksin remained determined to play a leading role in Thailand even though he could not enter the Kingdom.

Thailand's Corruption Commission found he had failed to declare all of his wealth, and he was also criticized over the government's handling of the upsurge in violence in the largely Muslim south over three provinces which had formerly been part of neighboring Malaysia.

Story continues: Pattaya-Times.com - Thaksin Shinawatra Rumored Dead


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