Sondhi’s Anti-Thaksin Crusade Running Out Of Steam

[george]

Sondhi’s anti-Thaksin crusade running out of steam

BANGKOK: -- Media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul is clearly struggling to capitalise on the eroding public support for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to generate momentum for his drive to replace the current Constitution and topple the government.

Not all of those who showed up for Sondhi’s weekly talk show at Lumpini Park last Friday agreed to sign his petition calling for a return of “royal power” to the monarchy, thereby delaying his plan to submit his motion to the Privy Council.

Although many of Sondhi’s cheerleaders have been vocal in their support of the initiative in articles in his newspaper Phujadkan daily and website Manager Online, Sondhi has remained publicly noncommittal about how many signatures he thinks would justify tabling his motion.

Prime Minister Thaksin can always point to the 19 million people who cast their votes for his government last February, so presumably any attempt to oust him would require a similarly large number of supporters.

Sondhi can hardly count anywhere near as many people among his supporters despite his claims that millions of people across the nation tune in to his weekly talk shows every Friday.

This obvious mismatch in numbers leaves Sondhi in a less than defendable political position. It would be an irresponsible act for him to hand a motion backed only by a relative small number of people over to the Privy Council, then return to his soapbox in Lumpini Park and await further developments in leisure.

Like it or not, the current Constitution was authored through a credible and democratic process. People in the Kingdom elected charter drafters, who duly conducted several public hearings on one chapter in progress after another.

Not surprisingly, many have questioned how Sondhi, dressed in a royalist yellow T-shirt, can arrogate to himself comparable democratic pretensions by

waving a piece of paper covered with the signatures of his supporters.

Members of his inner circle are reportedly pointing fingers at one another for urging Sondhi to

pick the book “Phra Ratcha-amnat” (“Royal Powers”) by Pramuan Ruchanaseree as the theme for his campaign for political reform.

While the book has been a massive bestseller, many of its arguments are questionable. Noted academics, including prominent historian Nidhi Eoseewong, have dismissed Pramuan’s arguments as absurd.

History has shown that campaigns for the restoration of royal powers mean nothing but a desire for a change of power from the hands of one group of people to that of another.

Sondhi, who graduated as a history major, presumably knows this full well. At the beginning of his vociferous anti-campaign he was simply lashing out at what he saw was a deeply corrupt government that had deprived him of his regular time on television.

The invocations of royal power, political reform, and constitutional change have only been window dressing for the vituperative verbal vendetta of a disgruntled media tycoon.

Clearly running out of steam, Sondhi has recently conceded in public that he had no idea where to head next with his so-called “political reform” campaign. Nonetheless, he has pledged to keep his “Muang Thai Rai Sapda” talk show going, an act that can ensure continued public interest in his newspaper, television programmes and website.

Reportedly, several members of his staff are not enamoured with him, either, thanks to comments he made during the New Year’s Eve party in his office. Sondhi told editors of the Manager website that they were putting little effort into following up on scandals he aired every Friday during his talk show. He dismissed their own contribution to the cause as next to useless.

Still, he is a richer man than he was until recently.

The so-called Sondhi phenomenon has earned a lot of money for his son’s company. His ASTV is now as popular as many local cable TV channels. Millions of CDs taped during his shows have been sold, enriching their maker.

Still it seems doubtful how long his one-man show can roll on, now that even some of his staffers are reportedly losing their faith in him.

--The Nation 2006-01-13