Thaksin's bio (bkk post)

[pattaya127]

August, 2001 (BKK POST)

 

Thaksin Shinawatra-a biography

Before his Thai Rak Thai party won the January 2001 elections, 51 year-old Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had already enjoyed successful careers as a policeman and a telecommunications entrepeneur.

The latter has made him and his family the wealthiest in Thailand.

Thaksin Shinawatra (pronounced "Chin-a-what") was born on July 26, 1949 in Chiang Mai, where the family silk business has been successful for over fifty years and has expanded into a bus line and movie theatres.

Thaksin was close to his father, Boonlert, and worked in the family businesses. At age 16 he was managing a movie theatre.

A good student, Thaksin entered Pre-Cadet School Class 10 and emerged as the top graduate of Police Cadet School Class 26 in 1973. He then went to the United States for his education after winning a scholarship from the Office of the Civil Service Commission for foreign study. He earned a Master's degree in Criminal Justice at Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky in 1974 and a PhD in Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas in 1978.

His first career was in the Police Department and lasted for 14 years until 1987 when he felt burned out and resigned to market a film called "Bann Sai Thong."

His first experience with the new field he was to find himself in, telecommunications and the computer industry had come in 1982 when he signed a contract with the Police Department to supply it with computer software.

Five years later he established the Shinawatra Company as a software marketing company. A year later he joined with Pacific Telesis to operate and market the PacLink pager service.

Conflict produced a split in the company and Thaksin started his own successful pager service, Shinawatra Paging. The company naturally evolved into the cellular phone business and Advanced Info Service now has the largest customer base in Thailand.

Along the way, Thaksin launched communications satellites, as he believed that Thailand should have its own satellites and not have to rent space from satellites owned by other nations.

In 1990 when Thaksin made a successful bid for a 20-year concession from the Telephone Organization of Thailand he was almost broke, as reported by Post reporters, but still had the daring to offer the TOT 20 billion baht in concession fees to garner the contract. Thaksin has never lacked for courage it seems.

Today the renamed Shin Corporation is a communications conglomerate consisting of two major divisions, Shinawatra Computer and Communications Plc and Advanced Info Service Plc with majority holdings in four other telecommunications subsidiaries.

With a self-proclaimed goal of cleaning up Thai politics, Thaksin entered political life in 1994 when he was appointed foreign minister under the cabinet quota of the Palang Dharma Party.

After the government of Chuan Leekpai lost power, Thaksin was elected head of the Palang Dharma party and was elected to Parliament in Bangkok's Constituency 2.

The once popular Palang Dharma Party self-destructed under Thaksin's leadership. He then became a deputy prime minister in the Chavalit government in 1997 with a commitment to solve Bangkok's traffic problems. The problems were not solved and he resigned his position in 1997.

In 1998 he formed the Thai Rak Thai party which won a smashing mandate at the polls in January 2001.

Thaksin is married to Potjaman (Damapong) and the couple has three children: a son,Parthongtae, and two daughters, Praethongtarn and Pintongta.

Thaksin lives by a motto he learned at the Police Cadet School: "Better to die than to live like a loser."

[Guest]

It seems a few here have a real downer on Thaksin, but let's look at the alternatives - Banharn...Chavalit...Chalerm...Sanoh...the guy from Chonburi...Sukavich...

Thailand has made great strides over the last thirty years economically, and the last 10 politically, he should at least be given a chance. Anyway, elections may be won up country, governments are overthrown in the cities...