With Thaksin’s recent interview with the Times released this week it has all suddenly taken on the air of a Harry Potter book with everyone exclaiming the words ” He who must not be named” and ” The interview that must not be named”. The Thai government in all of it’s archaic grandeur have proclaimed that this interview with he who shall not be named shall also not be published or spoken about online.

I originally considered Thai politicians to be the same type of  highly trained hypocritical monkeys that can be found in any western country.  Basically,  not concerned with more than what they can get out of any situation and how anything they do can be used as an opportunity to help with re-election efforts. Unfortunately I was wrong,  as Thai politicians are much more dangerous in their ineptitude.

Instead of releasing a statement that the government disapproved of the interview done with Thaksin they have basically issued a decree stating that they will take action against anyone printing, posting or generally discussing said article online or otherwise. What they fail to understand is the fact that with every such step they make they lend more and more credence to everything Thaksin says and does. The Thai government is playing into his hands.

Now that the Times online interview is front and center in the news charges of lèse-majesté are most likely going to be brought against Thaksin and journalist Richard Lloyd Parry of the Times.  Thaksin for his part is saying that the interview was taken out of context and he plans to sue the Times.

Thaksin is not a stupid man, he knew exactly what to say in the interview and how he wanted to say it and he knows those words were not an affront to the Thai royal family but to those surrounding the royal family. I believe Thaksin has calculated every move he has made since the 2006 coup, from buying Manchester City to becoming Cambodia’s economic advisor,  and now this interview.

With every step Thaksin has given the Thai government more means to stumble in the eyes of the world, and they have. Instead of ignoring the man they removed from power and treating him as an insignificant outsider they have given him a platform to stand on and call out their hypocrisy.

Thaksin is now in Cambodia and leaders of his defunct Thai political party as well as leaders of the red shirt movement are crossing the border to meet with him. It isn’t coincidence that Thaksin is so close to his homeland or that his words have become more measured. He means to hold a position of power again in Thailand and the Thai government that fought so hard to remove him from office in 2006 are falling over themselves to hand him the keys to the kingdom by their arrogant and dismissive nature of the Thai people and democracy.

Thaksin is no hero by any means, he is a corrupt politician that abused the Thai peoples trust, but he still has the ear of the people. As long as the Thai government continues to hide behind the archaic lèse-majesté laws and discourage the peoples freedom to speak they will continue to push more people towards Thaksin. For his part Thaksin would love nothing more than to see the Thai government divide it’s nation so he can once again come to power.

What both Thaksin and the Thai government don’t seem to see is that this collision course has very real ramifications for the people and country they both claim to love. When blood is spilled it is never the blood of a politician.