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BANGKOK,Thailand-“Thaksin, Where Are You?”It is Thailand’s latest political puzzler-the title of a strange little book about the former prime minister that may or may not be what it seems.Thaksin Shinawatra is in London,his home since he was ousted in a coup last September;he is watching and, perhaps,waiting for his moment to return, as the generals who are now in power lead his country through an exhausting series of watershed moments.Next Sunday,in the latest of these,Thailand will vote on a new constitution that would pave the way for an election,tentatively set for November.Meanwhile, a Thai court today issued arrest warrants for Mr. Thaksin and his wife, Pojaman, after the couple failed to appear in the court to face corruption charges involving a land sale.The warrants mean that the couple would be taken into custody if they returned to Thailand, but their lawyer said today that they have no plans now to do so.The court said it would consider extradition proceedings if they do not appear by Sept. 25. Legal experts said such proceedings would probably be long and complex.London is where a young Thai writer says she wheedled and wept until Mr. Thaksin granted her seven hours of interviews for a chatty book about his life and moods that she says could have been called “Lonely Thaksin.”The book was published in Bangkok this month, and it has infuriated the ruling generals, who seem to think they see Mr. Thaksin’s stealthy hand everywhere, including in this seemingly inoffensive portrait of a mild-mannered political retiree.If the book really was the writer’s independent enterprise, Mr. Thaksin got very lucky. It portrays him just as he might have portrayed himself if he had orchestrated the whole thing.“Although he tries to remain light-hearted, deep down in his eyes, I feel his hidden pain,” writes the author, Sunisa Lertpakawat, 32.It is Mr. Thaksin through the looking glass, the improbably unadventurous life of a powerful man, a chimera who still haunts the junta....To read more go to:
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