Foreign Ministry Cancels Thaksin's Diplomatic Passport

[george]

FM cancel ousted premier and wife's diplomatic passports

BANGKOK: -- The Foreign Ministry has revoked diplomatic passports of deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his wife, Khunying Pojaman, after an investigation concluded the former premier has been engaging in political activities while in exile, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday.

The ministry has also instructed all of its embassies not to facilitate Thaksin's travels and visits, said deputy Foreign Ministry's spokesman Kiatthikhun Chartprasert.

The move came after months of debate among top government officials, as well as a growing call from the public, over whether Thaksin's diplomatic passport should be revoked to curb his movement and activities abroad.

"Taking into consideration the appropriateness and security concern, the diplomatic passports of Thaksin and wife have been revoked since December 31, 2006," Kiatthikhun said.

Thaksin, however, is permitted to continue to carry an ordinary Thai passport that will enabled him to travel abroad but would not be as convenient than the diplomatic one with red cover. With exception of Asean members, a number of countries abroad required a pre-approved visa for Thai passport holders.

The idea of revoking Thaksin's passport surfaced almost immediately after he was ousted in September 19, 2006.

Thaksin has been visiting a number of neighbouring countries, including China, Japan and Indonesia, as well as Hong Kong, where he believed to have met some of his close aids.

Suspicious of him plotting a political comeback immediately surfaced and kicked off a round of debate among the coup leaders, diplomats and senior officials.

Foreign Ministry had consistently downplayed the demand on the ground that all former prime ministers and foreign ministers of Thailand were permitted to hold on to their diplomatic passport for life.

The junta accused Thaksin of orchestrating what they called "under current" to create trouble for the people in the power.

The issue was raised at the Parliamentarian debate when Deputy Foreign Ministry Sawanit Kongsiri informed the National Legislative Assembly in closed session that the ministry has already terminated the diplomatic passports of Thaksin and his wife.

--The Nation 2006-01-10

[John K]

Some good news for a change.

[bkkandrew]

Some good news for a change.

Well, if Thaksin was behind the bombings, I wonder what his response to this slight will be..

[BlackJack]

arhhhh

there is a God after all

thank you

now please God trim his tail feathers so he cant fly

[simon43]

So where does he now stand re staying in the UK, (where I understand he is now 'based')?

Think he will need to visit a UK Embassy overseas and try to get a Visitors Visa! Since he may well find it difficult to provide a good reason to return to Thailand, this should clearly be refused.....

Simon

[LifeConvo]

It just means he will use his normal Thai passport, no big deal.

The idea behind this was to make Thuksin lose face, and credit, with Thais.

[kayo]

i thought he was in china now?

ANyway, he'd now need visa to enter the UK.

And he'd have to prove he has funds (which he has stashed away illegaly), and that he has "ample reason" to return to thailand!!!

I wonder if he'll write a "sick buffalo" letter to Tony B.?

[Rhys]

DEY GOT SOME HUEVOS for a change.. WAY TO GO

[Axel]

He could apply for political asylum, claiming having been democratically elected and ousted as resuolt of a military coup.

[Norman d'Plume]

์ำNow cancel his normal passport too and force him to return to face the music. He needs to appear in open court to show his blind followers he is not the all-powerful super-being they seem to think he is. His corrupt practices have caused immense problems for the country and he must be brought to book if for no other reason than pour encourager les autres and show that society will never accept his type of kleptocracy again.

Edited January 10, 2007 by Norman d'Plume

[stevehaigh]

So where does he now stand re staying in the UK, (where I understand he is now 'based')?

Think he will need to visit a UK Embassy overseas and try to get a Visitors Visa! Since he may well find it difficult to provide a good reason to return to Thailand, this should clearly be refused.....

Simon

with 10 bizzillion dollars in the bank i expect he can get a visa anywhere.

steve

[konangrit]

์ำNow cancel his normal passport too and force him to return to face the music.

A little tricky if he doesn't have a passport.

[robint]

Strange

The ministry said

"Taking into consideration the appropriateness and security concern, the diplomatic passports of Thaksin and wife have been revoked since December 31, 2006," Kiatthikhun said.

So they had already revoked his passport but didnt care to admit it till 10 days later

And the bombs went off at the same time? curiouser and curiouser

I wonder if his uk visa was stamped in his dip passport

If he has now lost that passport, he should have to apply for a new visa (exactly the way the treat us over here if you happen to have your passport stolen - ie you are back to square 1 on a 30 day voa even if you have been here years on a legitimate long term visa - its a bummer, dont ever lose your passport, they dont care)

Well dont get too excited there are different rules if you have more than £5 mill invested and are clearly a high net worth crim

Thing is he wont find it very comfortable over there in UK, who would want to be seen with him? He would be out of the dip circles straightaway. Just an ordinary Khung Pingpong

Oh and btw not wishing to hijack the thread BUT generally as a citizen you are not entitled to a passport - not a british one anyway - its issued at the discretion of the gov and can be withdrawn at any time, you must then return home under special travel papers. Also for you brits, if you have resided out of the country for more than 20 years, you passport renewal in thailand say, may be downlgraded to a second class British subject, british commonwealth subject or worse - ther are 6 different categories - with no automatic right of abode back in UK - happened to a mate of mine

Edited January 10, 2007 by robint

[Mid]

He could apply for political asylum, claiming having been democratically elected and ousted as resuolt of a military coup.

for the zillionith 'n 1 time

He Resigned...................................................

[kenk3z]

The standing Thai government may have revoked his passport, but he still physically has it. I doubt he will mail it back. The wife, though, has some difficulty using hers to manage the extraction of wealth from Thailand. At some point (if she's not already in Thailand) she will want to come back to work on the "funds" issue. So she may lose hers at Thai immigration.

Hey Thaksin, "too many VOA stamps. You go home."

kenk3z

[Laulen]

It seems that Mr. Thaksin has a case to answer in the Courts of Thailand regarding his tenure as Prime Minister and his numerous activities in business.

However, I believe it is inappropriate at this time to call him to account as there is a military government and there is no popular mandate from the public for this current state of affairs. Until a new constitution and a free and fairly elected democratic government is in place, it would be a wise move to leave Thaksin well alone; and at the same time maintain a careful watch on any political ambitions he may still have.

[Janner]

He could apply for political asylum, claiming having been democratically elected and ousted as resuolt of a military coup.

for the zillionith 'n 1 time

He Resigned...................................................

And for the Zillion. trillionth time the good old UK would consider the above and protest if he didn't accept benefits whist being considered !

[Arkady]

Strange

The ministry said

"Taking into consideration the appropriateness and security concern, the diplomatic passports of Thaksin and wife have been revoked since December 31, 2006," Kiatthikhun said.

So they had already revoked his passport but didnt care to admit it till 10 days later

And the bombs went off at the same time? curiouser and curiouser

I wonder if his uk visa was stamped in his dip passport

If he has now lost that passport, he should have to apply for a new visa (exactly the way the treat us over here if you happen to have your passport stolen - ie you are back to square 1 on a 30 day voa even if you have been here years on a legitimate long term visa - its a bummer, dont ever lose your passport, they dont care)

Well dont get too excited there are different rules if you have more than £5 mill invested and are clearly a high net worth crim

Thing is he wont find it very comfortable over there in UK, who would want to be seen with him? He would be out of the dip circles straightaway. Just an ordinary Khung Pingpong

Oh and btw not wishing to hijack the thread BUT generally as a citizen you are not entitled to a passport - not a british one anyway - its issued at the discretion of the gov and can be withdrawn at any time, you must then return home under special travel papers. Also for you brits, if you have resided out of the country for more than 20 years, you passport renewal in thailand say, may be downlgraded to a second class British subject, british commonwealth subject or worse - ther are 6 different categories - with no automatic right of abode back in UK - happened to a mate of mine

You cannot have your British citizenship status downgraded as a result of having lived abroad. British passports with no right of abode are nowadays issued to people from colonies like St Helena and the Falklands or former colonies like Hong Kong. Most are held by Hong Kong people. The downgrades happened decades ago when British colonial citizens lost the automatic right of abode in the UK.

[atlastaname]

So where does he now stand re staying in the UK, (where I understand he is now 'based')?

Think he will need to visit a UK Embassy overseas and try to get a Visitors Visa! Since he may well find it difficult to provide a good reason to return to Thailand, this should clearly be refused.....

Simon

Actually , he doesn't have to prove he will return to Thailand , just that he will leave the UK at the end of his stated visit. This applies to ordinary Thais too. In almost all cases they do have to show reason to return to Thailand as that is their only option , but with some wealthier people like (but not only) Taksin , in fact you only have to show you will leave the UK.

Back to the OP, i'm glad for one that they have revoked it

[Mid]

The standing Thai government may have revoked his passport, but he still physically has it

so what , it ain't going to work any more .

[Phuket Dragon]

์

Diplomtic pasport invoked , Now cancel his normal passport too

You guys are bit much naieve. Mr Taksin with his zillions have 100% a non Thai pasport in some tax heavens it cost only 100.000 Euro to get residence, and more tax haevens has for free pasports when you insert in the banks big cash ! Believe me he can travel free without Visa's !

Dragon.

[my friend I]

He may apply for a Chinese passport given his background.

[Jeff1]

์

Diplomtic pasport invoked , Now cancel his normal passport too

You guys are bit much naieve. Mr Taksin with his zillions have 100% a non Thai pasport in some tax heavens it cost only 100.000 Euro to get residence, and more tax haevens has for free pasports when you insert in the banks big cash ! Believe me he can travel free without Visa's !

Dragon.

I agree.

And if not, he can always do border runs

[Arkady]

At last the Foreign Ministry has belatedly taken a more robust attitude. Their kid glove treatment over this issue was embarassing and probably enabled Thaksin's wife to move many suitcases of gold and other assets freely through customs.

The correct form will be for the Foreign Ministry to inform foreign embassies about the cancellation, so their immigration services can put the diplomatic passport number on their blacklists and Thaksin will risk getting arrested for trying to use an invalid travel document. He will still probably still be able to get a visa for the UK and other countries because he will be able to demonstrate massive offshore wealth to allay fears that he might attempt to work illegally. Even without a home base to return to, they would believe that he has the funds to travel somewhere else when his visa expires. There are many small countries that he easily get permanent residence, if he needed a new base. The US might even grant him asylum, as they did Marcos, since they put great store by his ousted democratic leader status.

His current stay in China will be interesting, if he is still there, because Thais need a visa and he might have suddenly have become an illegal immigrant. But he can get two week visas on arrival in Hong Kong and ASEAN countries.

If he is charged in Thailand and they want to extradict him, they would have to revoke his normal passport too. That would force him to obtain political asylum somewhere, if he wanted to avoid extradition, and he would be unable to leave that country. To be safe he might have to avoid countries that have extradition treaties with Thailand or obtain political asylum somewhere which would make him immune from extradition.

They certainly don't won't him back now, if they have any sense, as he could easily end up back in power and the CNS in the dock. The best thing would be to leave him in exile for a couple more years until he becomes irrelevant politically. Better still they should ratify the Statute of Rome and recognise the International Court of Justice, then provide evidence of crimes against humanity, so he can be tried in the Hague. Even if they couldn't convict him, the trial would take years.

[Plus]

Thaksin can't travel on some British Virgin passport, it would be inappropriate for a former head of state. He might even get strip searched if US immigration smells something fishy. Do they even recognize these 100k passports after 9-11?

Travelling on a Thai passport is a nightmare, applying for EU/US visas while being in a third country is nearly impossible, and if he tries to pull the rank every visa clerk will have to consult with his superiors, who in turn would be afraid to cause some diplomatic incindent.

No more hassle free jetting around the world.

[Livinginexile]

Some good news for a change.

I admired the guy actually

He helped the poor, introduced free (allmost) health care, housing projects for the poor, mega infrastructure projects (long over due).

And let us not forget, As much as the junta wants to hang Taksin, they have not produced one shred of evidence that he acted in any way ilegally.

[falux]

Well, that's news to make me feel good, for a change.

[Jingthing]

Some good news for a change.

I admired the guy actually

He helped the poor, introduced free (allmost) health care, housing projects for the poor, mega infrastructure projects (long over due).

And let us not forget, As much as the junta wants to hang Taksin, they have not produced one shred of evidence that he acted in any way ilegally.

So you liked the extra-judicial murders then?

Thailand needs to move on, and put Thaksin in jail.

As long as he is free and has his money, there is a significant portion of the population who won't let go of their dream of this return to power.

Edited January 10, 2007 by Jingthing

[Mid]

No more hassle free jetting around the world.

exactly

[Plus]

He helped the poor, introduced free (allmost) health care, housing projects for the poor, mega infrastructure projects

Then he has nothing to worry about as God will surely protect him for all his goofdness.

Edited January 10, 2007 by Plus