Former PM Denies Role In Bangkok Blasts

FORMER Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has denied involvement in the New Years Eve Bangkok bombings as the list of his supporters sought for questioning over the blasts continues to grow.

The ruling Council for National Security has named four former associates of Mr Thaksin it wants to interview.

"We are not blaming them for involvement in the bombings but have called them to share their opinions and experiences," said General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, council head and leader of the military-backed coup that ousted Mr Thaksin in September.

Mr Thaksin, in Beijing, expressed sorrow over the attacks. "He insisted that he did not even think about creating disturbance or violence so that he could return to power," his legal adviser, Noppadol Pattama, said in Bangkok. "He is worried and feels that it is unfair to link him and the old power clique to the bomb attacks."

Dr Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkoks Chulalongkorn University, doubted that Mr Thaksin had personally ordered the bombings, but said the clique around his government was agitating for change. "They have to make a move. Thaksin is being kept out of the country and the longer he stays out, the more clout he loses," he said. "People say he is a man of the people, why would he want to hurt his own people? But Bangkok was never his people, the countryside are his people."

Respected former prime minister Chuan Leekpai also believes the bombings were politically motivated and linked them to a recent string of school burnings in the north, Mr Thaksins traditional stronghold.

However, Giles Ungkaporn, a left-wing academic opposed to the coup and its leaders, questions blaming former government factions.

"Naturally the junta, whose sole legitimising factor is the evil of Thaksin … would like to put out this theory," Mr Ungkaporn said.

"But why would Thai Rak Thai (Mr Thaksins party) plant bombs? … The bombs are likely to push the Bangkok middle classes further into the arms of the junta. Thai Rak Thai would gain nothing."

The four associates named by the ruling council are Prommin Lertsuridej, former secretary to the prime minister and the man responsible for Thai Rak Thais propaganda efforts, former deputy prime minister Chidchai Vanasatidya, former National Intelligence Agency director Chumpol Munmai, and Chalor Chuwong, a senior police officer connected to the prime ministers department.

"This is part of the prolonged instability, it is not a one-off," political scientist Dr Thitinan said. "Its another manifestation of the conflict between Thaksin and the establishment. They didnt finish him off."

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