Sweden Says It Did Not Ask Thaksin To Leave

[webfact]

Sweden says it did not ask Thaksin to leave

By THE NATION

STOCKHOLM: -- Despite a request from Thai authorities, fugitive ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra was not asked to leave Sweden, a Swedish Foreign Ministry official said yesterday.

Anders Joerle, head of the press department of Sweden's Foreign Ministry, said Thai authorities had only contacted their Swedish counterparts on the phone, not in writing.

"The contact was made by phone from the Thai Embassy in Stockholm to the [swedish] Foreign Ministry.

There was also a similar phone call to the Swedish Embassy in Thailand from the Thai Foreign Ministry," he said.

Joerle added that the Swedish authorities did not call Thaksin and that he had no knowledge of anyone else getting in touch with him and asking him to leave the country.

"There was no contact between any part of the Swedish government and Thaksin.

The only contact he had with an official in Sweden was with the immigration police upon his entry and his exit," Joerle was quoted as saying by the ScandAsia News website.

The official said he did not know which passport Thaksin had used to enter and exit Sweden, and could not confirm if he left in his private plane or a commercial airline.

Joerle said Thaksin was free to enter and leave Sweden as long as he had valid travel documents, because he was not on any international list of wanted criminals.

When asked if Thaksin's phone-in to his protesting red-shirt supporters while on Swedish soil would land him on a black list, Joerle responded: "No, we have freedom of speech in Sweden.

He is free to call and speak to whoever he wants."

However, he added that it would be a problem if Thaksin agitated his followers to commit an act of terrorism. "That's a different situation. That would be illegal in Sweden, too," he said.

Thaksin arrived in Sweden last Saturday and left on Monday evening for an undisclosed destination, according to ScandAsia.

Thaksin is no stranger to Sweden, having visited it several times to meet his good friend, former Swedish PM Goran Persson, who coincidentally resigned as government head the day before Thaksin was ousted in 2006.

Meanwhile, Thaksin told his supporters on Tuesday that he was in Russia, and yesterday he tweeted that he was in Dubai - rejecting media reports that he had been expelled from UAE.

On Twitter, Thaksin also denied rumours that he had cancer.

"I hear that e-mails have been forwarded, saying I've got cancer and all my hair has fallen out. I had a good laugh about this," his tweet said.

Yet, in his phone-in to the red shirts on Wednesday night, he said his medical check-up in Russia showed "very good" results and pointed to no health problems.

Meanwhile, acting government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn, in response to Thaksin's allegation that Thai authorities were busy asking other countries to not welcome him, said yesterday that this was because the former PM was escaping legal cases in Thailand.

"The authorities ask other countries to find Thaksin so he can be prosecuted in Thailand.

Those countries are also asked to stop Thaksin from taking any political actions on their soil that could affect Thailand," he said.

-- The Nation 2010-04-02

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[mca]

Official Swedish statement on the matter.

(Please mods let this post run for a while)

[Insight]

One day Sweeden will be as good as Sri Lanka...

[Thai at Heart]

I wish Dubai would make a similar statement to clarify everything just to shut the Foreign Ministry's pie hole.

[tonywebster]

Well done Sweden, show the thais what it is like to live in the real world and not cloud cuckoo land, it always males me laugh when the Thais law down the law to other countries.

[Thai at Heart]

Well done Sweden, show the thais what it is like to live in the real world and not cloud cuckoo land, it always males me laugh when the Thais law down the law to other countries.

Absolutely, a very precisely written statement stating clearly what the law is and isn't in Sweden. Obviously the pooyais in Sweden don't have to appear to know everything, they use the law instead.

[anotherpeter]

I wish Dubai would make a similar statement to clarify everything just to shut the Foreign Ministry's pie hole.

IMO, Dubai have said something to him. ("shut up while you are here")

Whenever he seems to be in Dubai, he is sick and can't do his nightly call in.

We'll see where his next call in come from.

Edited April 2, 2010 by anotherpeter

[Thai at Heart]

I wish Dubai would make a similar statement to clarify everything just to shut the Foreign Ministry's pie hole.

IMO, Dubai have said something to him. ("shut up while you are here")

Whenever he seems to be in Dubai, he is sick and can't do his nightly call in.

We'll see where his next call in come from.

Maybe they have asked him to shut up, but the endless "Thaksin has been banned from Dubai" stories emanating from the THAI side are pathetic. If that is the case why doesn't he do a Radio Caroline and drive a boat out into the water off the coast of Dubai?

It makes the Foreign Ministry look extremely stupid.

[anotherpeter]

I wish Dubai would make a similar statement to clarify everything just to shut the Foreign Ministry's pie hole.

IMO, Dubai have said something to him. ("shut up while you are here")

Whenever he seems to be in Dubai, he is sick and can't do his nightly call in.

We'll see where his next call in come from.

Maybe they have asked him to shut up, but the endless "Thaksin has been banned from Dubai" stories emanating from the THAI side are pathetic. If that is the case why doesn't he do a Radio Caroline and drive a boat out into the water off the coast of Dubai?

It makes the Foreign Ministry look extremely stupid.

Agreed.

The FM need to keep their mouth shut for a while.

If the newspapers want to know where Thaksin is ... it's called investigative journalism.

[mazeltov]

Official Swedish statement on the matter.

(Please mods let this post run for a while)

555

i knew what it will be, befoe the page had loaded. allways fun.

actuall interessting that the swedish official get to the points instead of using some lingua diplomatique.

[Nuchanart]

I wish Dubai would make a similar statement to clarify everything just to shut the Foreign Ministry's pie hole.

IMO, Dubai have said something to him. ("shut up while you are here")

Whenever he seems to be in Dubai, he is sick and can't do his nightly call in.

We'll see where his next call in come from.

Maybe they have asked him to shut up, but the endless "Thaksin has been banned from Dubai" stories emanating from the THAI side are pathetic. If that is the case why doesn't he do a Radio Caroline and drive a boat out into the water off the coast of Dubai?

It makes the Foreign Ministry look extremely stupid.

Does it makes the Foreign Ministry look extremely stupid? No.

It only make the Swedish look extremely stupid for protecting a known criminal.

DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE FINNISH, and LM.

[tonywebster]

I wish Dubai would make a similar statement to clarify everything just to shut the Foreign Ministry's pie hole.

IMO, Dubai have said something to him. ("shut up while you are here")

Whenever he seems to be in Dubai, he is sick and can't do his nightly call in.

We'll see where his next call in come from.

Maybe they have asked him to shut up, but the endless "Thaksin has been banned from Dubai" stories emanating from the THAI side are pathetic. If that is the case why doesn't he do a Radio Caroline and drive a boat out into the water off the coast of Dubai?

It makes the Foreign Ministry look extremely stupid.

Does it makes the Foreign Ministry look extremely stupid? No.

It only make the Swedish look extremely stupid for protecting a known criminal.

DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE FINNISH, and LM.

To answer your question, yes it makes the foreign ministry look stupid. A little research before laying down the law to other countries should be done, if this had happened then the FM would not have egg on its face AGAIN. The sooner that Thailand realizes it's place in the pecking order and lack of importance to other countries the better for Thailand, they are not in the position to lay down laws or ultimatums to ANY country as any sanctions enforced by Thailand against another would not even be noticed.

Sweden are following their laws and the laws of the EU, and as they say of the request was made in writing it could have been discussed, but Somchai telephoning them and whining down the phone about the Satan aka Thaksin would have just been laughed off by the Swedes, and rightly so.

[Thai at Heart]

I wish Dubai would make a similar statement to clarify everything just to shut the Foreign Ministry's pie hole.

IMO, Dubai have said something to him. ("shut up while you are here")

Whenever he seems to be in Dubai, he is sick and can't do his nightly call in.

We'll see where his next call in come from.

Maybe they have asked him to shut up, but the endless "Thaksin has been banned from Dubai" stories emanating from the THAI side are pathetic. If that is the case why doesn't he do a Radio Caroline and drive a boat out into the water off the coast of Dubai?

It makes the Foreign Ministry look extremely stupid.

Does it makes the Foreign Ministry look extremely stupid? No.

It only make the Swedish look extremely stupid for protecting a known criminal.

DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE FINNISH, and LM.

If you read the notice, it would appear that all the Foreign Ministry needs to do is WRITE A LETTER to have official contact with Sweden. Also I was not referring to their dealings with Sweden rather their endless apparent inability to convince Dubai to do anything to hinder the movements of Thaksin in and out of Dubai, despite statements to the contrary.

In terms of making them look absolutely powerless, I would suggest a "fight your way out of a wet paper bag contest" to see if the Foreign Minsitry can win that one.

Of course, if Thaksin was arrested in Sweden, then he would probably claim asylum in Sweden and Thailand would be faced with the rather embarrassing problem of explaining how it's courts are all completely independent even though appointed under military rule, and the very man they have in custody could actually explain to them how himself was able to manipulate the judiciary.

Now that would make them and the entire system look extremely stupid.

Edited April 2, 2010 by Thai at Heart

[Insight]

What happened to the usually mandatory "I'm not a fan of Thaksin but..." disclaimers?

When asked if Thaksin's phone-in to his protesting red-shirt supporters while on Swedish soil would land him on a black list, Joerle responded: "No, we have freedom of speech in Sweden.

Joerle - first day on the job?

[givenall]

It is not unusual for a government to go after a criminal. Can’t fault the Thai government to go after Thaksin anywhere he is. Especially when e has no regard in the sovereign of a country and the rule of country

[apetley]

I think it pretty obvious that the Thai government would prefer it that Thaksin remain outside of Thailand hence no formal requests for extradition from any of the countries he is known to have visited since his skipping bail and conviction.

[tonywebster]

So up to now nobody has respected the Thai FM when they have asked that Thaksin be asked to leave a country, Sweden, Dubai, Cambodia, Montenegro.

the truth guys this is all propaganda from the Thai FM for the Thai press and the gullible Thai people. The truth is the current unelected government does not want Thaksin back on Thai soil, the minute he is back here their goose is cooked and they know that. All they are doing at the moment is playing for time until he does come back at the request of the next elected Thai government.

[anotherpeter]

So up to now nobody has respected the Thai FM when they have asked that Thaksin be asked to leave a country, Sweden, Dubai, Cambodia, Montenegro.

the truth guys this is all propaganda from the Thai FM for the Thai press and the gullible Thai people. The truth is the current unelected government does not want Thaksin back on Thai soil, the minute he is back here their goose is cooked and they know that. All they are doing at the moment is playing for time until he does come back at the request of the next elected Thai government.

Besides the current government being elected and your assumption that the reds would win the next election, I agree.

The reds are protesting and want a government dissolution now so that Thaksin still has enough money to buy the next election and so that the new Thaksin government can put his lackies in control of the army in the upcoming reshuffle.

All Thai governments need the support of the army. Abhisit has the support of the army now and Thaksin would have the support of the army once he gets his people in at the top. No difference there really, except for the fact that Thaksin is a convicted criminal and performed huge levels of corruption while he was PM.

[Hawk]

Joerle responded: "No, we have freedom of speech in Sweden.

Maybe, oneday Thailand will have freedom of speech as well? Maybe?

[Jingthing]

Note to all current and future criminal fugitive exiled megalomaniac dictators -- Stockholm is lovely in the springtime.

Otherwise, boycott lutfisk!

[Insight]

Joerle responded: "No, we have freedom of speech in Sweden.

Maybe, oneday Thailand will have freedom of speech as well? Maybe?

Depends if news broadcasting corporations become state owned and journalists critical of govt are subsequently investigated for "corruption", as happened in Thailand around 2001 to 2005.

Or how about the free speech ideals promoted by the red shirts, whereby if you disagree with them you end up with a mob on the doorstep the following day?

This guy made a reference to free speech when being asked about Thaksin with no indication of the irony of what he was proposing. Well done.

[tonywebster]

So up to now nobody has respected the Thai FM when they have asked that Thaksin be asked to leave a country, Sweden, Dubai, Cambodia, Montenegro.

the truth guys this is all propaganda from the Thai FM for the Thai press and the gullible Thai people. The truth is the current unelected government does not want Thaksin back on Thai soil, the minute he is back here their goose is cooked and they know that. All they are doing at the moment is playing for time until he does come back at the request of the next elected Thai government.

Besides the current government being elected and your assumption that the reds would win the next election, I agree.

The reds are protesting and want a government dissolution now so that Thaksin still has enough money to buy the next election and so that the new Thaksin government can put his lackies in control of the army in the upcoming reshuffle.

All Thai governments need the support of the army. Abhisit has the support of the army now and Thaksin would have the support of the army once he gets his people in at the top. No difference there really, except for the fact that Thaksin is a convicted criminal and performed huge levels of corruption while he was PM.

I will not question that he dabbled in corruption Peter, I do question however that the current government is elected, well they are not elected by the people as in a democracy, they were elected by parliament after buying coalition parties in order that they have enough seats to form a government. This is where we differ, I believe a democratic government should be elected by the people and by the people alone, or you don't have an elected government, when the previous government was disbanded the vote should have been given back to the people and not chosen (after buying coalitions) by the courts, especially after the same court disbanded one party for vote buying while allowing another to become the government despite them also being found guilty of vote buying (people will prattle on about the executive arm etc, but vote buying is vote buying). I am also 100% certain that the reds in any guise will win the next election, The army and Abhisit know this also or they would be running to the polls now to have 4 more years rather than the 18 odd months they have left. It is a sad indictment on Thailand that the only way this party could into power was via the army and the courts and not because of a public vote, dont forget they have not won the last 3 elections so they were placed into power, now forgive me if I am wrong but that is not democracy.

i disagree that they want the election now before Thaksin runs out of money, thaksin is still a billionaire mate, in USD, not just in baht, so i don't think money is a major issue for them. The issue is that in 9 months time the current government will have pushed through 3 charter amendments which the reds want to stop, not for Thaksin, but for Thailand. they need to now to not focus on Thaksin and make their voices heard on the actual issues. We already know about the double standards and to continuing to harp on about them is pointless. they simply need to focus on getting a new election because that is what is best for Thailand. Do you consider a military government good for Thailand? because that is what we have now.

To think all this has come about because of the egos of two men, Thaksin and Sondhi, unbelievable

[anotherpeter]

I will not question that he dabbled in corruption Peter, I do question however that the current government is elected, well they are not elected by the people as in a democracy, they were elected by parliament after buying coalition parties in order that they have enough seats to form a government. This is where we differ, I believe a democratic government should be elected by the people and by the people alone, or you don't have an elected government, when the previous government was disbanded the vote should have been given back to the people and not chosen (after buying coalitions) by the courts, especially after the same court disbanded one party for vote buying while allowing another to become the government despite them also being found guilty of vote buying (people will prattle on about the executive arm etc, but vote buying is vote buying). I am also 100% certain that the reds in any guise will win the next election, The army and Abhisit know this also or they would be running to the polls now to have 4 more years rather than the 18 odd months they have left. It is a sad indictment on Thailand that the only way this party could into power was via the army and the courts and not because of a public vote, dont forget they have not won the last 3 elections so they were placed into power, now forgive me if I am wrong but that is not democracy.

i disagree that they want the election now before Thaksin runs out of money, thaksin is still a billionaire mate, in USD, not just in baht, so i don't think money is a major issue for them. The issue is that in 9 months time the current government will have pushed through 3 charter amendments which the reds want to stop, not for Thaksin, but for Thailand. they need to now to not focus on Thaksin and make their voices heard on the actual issues. We already know about the double standards and to continuing to harp on about them is pointless. they simply need to focus on getting a new election because that is what is best for Thailand. Do you consider a military government good for Thailand? because that is what we have now.

To think all this has come about because of the egos of two men, Thaksin and Sondhi, unbelievable

"Dabbled" in corruption? You've got to be kidding!!! The things he did WHILE he was PM that directly benefitted HIS company wasn't just dabbling.

The government wasn't disbanded. The party was. The PM was banned because he was part of the executive of the party, and they were caught red handed being involved in electoral fraud. They were the laws before the election. The law was clear. All the courts did was enforce the law. If the executive are involved, the party gets disbanded (not all the MPs get banned). If non-exectives are involved, they get banned individually. They PPP still broke the laws knowing they existed. The court didn't disband the government.

Even after the PPP was disbanded, an ex-PPP MP was the care-taker PM and the PTP could have still formed a government.

The fact that the smaller parties decided to no longer support the PTP may have been for many reasons, but it could have been because they thought that a Democrat government was better for the country and better for them. You can't really bring "being paid" to support them into the argument, because the Thaksin parties were pretty good at this.

OK. Maybe Thaksin's money will not run out so quick. He could probably still buy the election in 9 months too. But, besides that, the PPP didn't get a majority in the last election. I doubt they (PTP) would get a majority in the next election. I doubt the smaller parties will support them in the next election.

Abhisit is including everyone in the discussions for the charter amendments and then putting it to a referendum for the people to accept. The reds don't want the Democrat amendments, because it means there is less chance of getting Thaksin his money back.

I agree that the reds should not focus on Thaksin, but the problem is that they have to. They need Thaksin for his support. They need Thaksin because (some of) the poor farmers love (have been fooled by) him because he gave them so much (of other peoples) money.

And that's what it comes back to. It's all about Thaksin. It's all about Thaksin's money.

Edited April 2, 2010 by anotherpeter

[SurinLA]

Depends if news broadcasting corporations become state owned and journalists critical of govt are subsequently investigated for "corruption", as happened in Thailand around 2001 to 2005.

Or how about the free speech ideals promoted by the red shirts, whereby if you disagree with them you end up with a mob on the doorstep the following day?

This guy made a reference to free speech when being asked about Thaksin with no indication of the irony of what he was proposing. Well done.

I agree with you. I am glad you point it out. I used to post my comment about this issue and someone attacked me and said it was not true. Remember when the internet became popular in Thailand during the 2000, The NATION has a webboard for posting the comment. I used to be one of the memberships. All the sudden, every comments had to be censered. Sometimes it took 3 days to see the post. It happened with BangkokPost as well.

[mca]

Joerle responded: "No, we have freedom of speech in Sweden.

Maybe, oneday Thailand will have freedom of speech as well? Maybe?

Depends if news broadcasting corporations become state owned and journalists critical of govt are subsequently investigated for "corruption", as happened in Thailand around 2001 to 2005.

Or how about the free speech ideals promoted by the red shirts, whereby if you disagree with them you end up with a mob on the doorstep the following day?

Or how about 10 years sharing a toilet with 100 other blokes because you posted a video on the internet?

[SurinLA]

OK. Maybe Thaksin's money will not run out so quick. He could probably still buy the election in 9 months too.

I agree that the reds should not focus on Thaksin, but the problem is that they have to. They need Thaksin for his support. They need Thaksin because (some of) the poor farmers love (have been fooled by) him because he gave them so much (of other peoples) money.

And that's what it comes back to. It's all about Thaksin. It's all about Thaksin's money.

I agree. In my village, My aunts and Uncles and next door neighbors are already talking when will it be the new election. The more elections the better for them. They make more money. They don't care about "DEMO-CRAZY" we are talking about. They don't care who will pay for all cost of election. They don't care what platforms the parties have. And 95% of the families have had at least 25,000 baht in debt since "1 million baht" project. If any one here so obsessed with "Real Thai Democracy Movement" and want to spread your love of democracy attitudes, please spend sometimes to educate the rural people first before you start supporting this Taksin and REDS agendas. I have done my part.

[Insight]

Or how about 10 years sharing a toilet with 100 other blokes because you posted a video on the internet?

Yep - utter rubbish - but I don't believe Thaksin's phone-ins are going to be used to criticize it.

[mca]

That would be the kiss of death for sure.

[SurinLA]

All Thai governments need the support of the army. Abhisit has the support of the army now and Thaksin would have the support of the army once he gets his people in at the top. No difference there really, except for the fact that Thaksin is a convicted criminal and performed huge levels of corruption while he was PM.

Do you think the ARMY will support him or his government if THAI FOR THAI PARTY win? I am not sure about that. Samak didn't get any support from Army. Somchai couldn't order the army to stop the yellows from broke into the airport.

Now the RED LEADERs are attacking army days and nights and they are nasty, cursing, insulting...etc. They seems to make Thai army their enemy now. They chased the unarmed army out from the security points last week. If you listen ( In Thai) what they say on RED stage, you will see why I think the army is in their last point of being patient now.

[anotherpeter]

All Thai governments need the support of the army. Abhisit has the support of the army now and Thaksin would have the support of the army once he gets his people in at the top. No difference there really, except for the fact that Thaksin is a convicted criminal and performed huge levels of corruption while he was PM.

Do you think the ARMY will support him or his government if THAI FOR THAI PARTY win? I am not sure about that. Samak didn't get any support from Army. Somchai couldn't order the army to stop the yellows from broke into the airport.

Now the RED LEADERs are attacking army days and nights and they are nasty, cursing, insulting...etc. They seems to make Thai army their enemy now. They chased the unarmed army out from the security points last week. If you listen ( In Thai) what they say on RED stage, you will see why I think the army is in their last point of being patient now.

That's why Thaksin is trying to get control of the reshuffle. The only way he can do that is through an election. Which is why he wants a dissolution now.

edit: but you're probably right. The current army leadership won't let that happen.

Edited April 2, 2010 by anotherpeter