Thaksin's passport might be returned

Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul said yesterday he was considering returning the Thai passport of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

"I am trying to determine if it was right to seize [Thaksin's] passport. A passport is an important official document required when you travel overseas. It is not different from an identification card. Do convicts get their ID cards seized?" Surapong said.

He added that he was referring to the normal passport - not the diplomatic passport - that the previous government had seized from Thaksin.

The ousted ex-premier, who now travels on a Montenegran passport, has been in self-exile to escape a two-year prison sentence handed down by the Supreme Court in 2008, which found him guilty of abuse of power.

Surapong, an MP from the ruling Pheu Thai Party, was speaking on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. He said the world community was aware that the cases against Thaksin were politically motivated.

"That's why Interpol did not issue a warrant for his arrest. Some countries can tell what is political and what is not," the foreign minister said.

Regarding critics' remarks that he should be charged with dereliction of duty for his failure to seek Thaksin's arrest while he was in Cambodia, the foreign minister said he and the ministry had no authority to make any arrest.

Surapong noted that Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, when serving as prime minister, did not seek the arrest of red-shirt leader Giles Ungpakorn, who was wanted by Thai authorities for lese majeste, during their meeting in London. He also defended Thaksin for visiting Cambodia recently, saying that Thaksin's trips to different countries - mostly to give lectures - would eventually benefit Thailand.

In a related development, Pheu Thai MP Kokaew Pikulthong said yesterday he would try to persuade fellow red-shirt leader Arisman Pongruangrong to turn himself in to police to fight charges of terrorism. Kokaew is travelling to Cambodia tomorrow with other red-shirt leaders for a friendly football match between red-shirt politicians and Cambodian government figures. Arisman has been in Cambodia to evade arrest in connection with last year's unrest and riots.

Kokaew said last week that some red-shirt leaders from Thailand had met Arisman and raised the issue of his possible surrender. Arisman responded that he would give himself up soon although he would not say when.