Game over as Thaksin quits party

BANGKOK - Deposed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra quit as head of the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party yesterday, signalling the de facto collapse of a political machine that had dominated the country until last month's coup.

"It's game over," said Bangkok-based political analyst Piroon Chatwanichkul. "Who would want to take over a shop whose political credibility has gone bankrupt?"

In a hand-written letter to party colleagues from London, where he has been in exile since the September 19 putsch, telecoms billionaire Thaksin said he was resigning to "preserve the future of everyone who loves the party".

"I would like to thank everyone for their dedication to the party and their love and care for my family and I," he wrote. "And last of all, I would like to apologise to the people and party members who did not want me to quit."

His depature triggers the automatic dissolution of the 119-strong executive of Thai Rak Thai ("Thais Love Thais"), although it does not mean its end as a political entity.

However, with members quitting in droves ahead of army-led anti-corruption probes into Thaksin and his cabinet, there appears to be no way back for a party whose popularity was based largely on its leader's star appeal and enormous wealth.

"TRT sinking like Titanic," the Nation newspaper said in a front-page headline after more than 70 of its members of parliament jumped ship on Monday.

Although none of them gave reasons for their resignation, the paper suggested they were hoping to avoid a five-year ban on politics likely to be imposed on members of any party that was dissolved for breaking electoral law.

Money politics

Sweeping to power in 2001 on a platform of cheap public health care and rural loans, TRT reached its zenith four years later when it won three-quarters of the 500 seats in parliament.

Critics said that, immune to any form of censure, the party took Thailand's traditional money politics to new levels by twisting government policy to the benefit of Thaksin and his family and friends in big business.

A mish-mash of political philosophies, TRT emerged from the ruins of the 1997 Asian financial crisis as a vehicle for popular anger against international markets and institutions such as the International Monetary Fund.

However, as the economy bounced back, it evolved into a pro-business, pro-privatisation and pro-foreign investment party that pushed for free-trade deals with Japan and the United States despite vocal opposition from social groups and unions.

January's tax-free sale by Thaksin's family of Shin Corp, the telecoms conglomerate that made him Thailand's fourth richest man, proved to be the last straw, triggering mass anti-cronyism protests in the capital.

Nine months later, with the country divided between city and countryside, the army executed its 18th coup in 74 years of democracy to root out what it called "rampant corruption".

The swift appointment of anti-graft probes signalled a clear attempt to remove Thaksin from politics by tarnishing his reputation before elections scheduled for a year's time under a new constitution.

But it remains to be seen what mud the graft-busters can dig up - and whether it will stick.

"The anti-corruption effort is off to a rather confusing start," said John Stuermer, a fixed income analyst for Bear Stearns in Singapore.

"If these organs do not find any legally compelling evidence against Thaksin in the next six to nine months, the junta will find it difficult to exclude him from the new elections."

- REUTERS