18 November 2005

Anti-Thaksin drive building Sondhi goes mobile with graft-busting talk show

For weeks, thousands had been packing Lumpini Park every Friday night to listen to media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul speak out against alleged government attempts to muzzle the press, and unleash new ‘evidence’ of state corruption.

Sondhi, founder of Manager newspaper and host of the Muang Thai Rai Sapda (Thailand Weekly) television show, was sued several times by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for defamation.

Sondhi’s television show had been cancelled by the state-run Channel 9 in September. Sondhi then took his show on the road in protest. He gathered traction with the press and public by displaying a photo of Thaksin performing a ceremony inside the main chapel of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, normally reserved for the royal family’s religious functions. Another widely disseminated allegation was that Thaksin used an air force plane to fly guests to his sister’s house-warming party in Chiang Mai. On November 25, Sondhi visited Luangta Maha Bua, abbot of Wat Pa Ban Tat, as the monk wanted him and Thaksin to reconcile. Thaksin did not attend the meeting, and the monk said his lawsuits against Sondhi were not justified. As popularity for Sondhi’s speeches grew, so did anti-Thaksin protests and coup rumours.

18 November 2005

Anti-Thaksin drive building Sondhi goes mobile with graft-busting talk show

For weeks, thousands had been packing Lumpini Park every Friday night to listen to media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul speak out against alleged government attempts to muzzle the press, and unleash new ‘evidence’ of state corruption.

Sondhi, founder of Manager newspaper and host of the Muang Thai Rai Sapda (Thailand Weekly) television show, was sued several times by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra for defamation.

Sondhi’s television show had been cancelled by the state-run Channel 9 in September. Sondhi then took his show on the road in protest. He gathered traction with the press and public by displaying a photo of Thaksin performing a ceremony inside the main chapel of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, normally reserved for the royal family’s religious functions. Another widely disseminated allegation was that Thaksin used an air force plane to fly guests to his sister’s house-warming party in Chiang Mai. On November 25, Sondhi visited Luangta Maha Bua, abbot of Wat Pa Ban Tat, as the monk wanted him and Thaksin to reconcile. Thaksin did not attend the meeting, and the monk said his lawsuits against Sondhi were not justified. As popularity for Sondhi’s speeches grew, so did anti-Thaksin protests and coup rumours.