Bhum Jai Thai ready to follow Thaksin's orders again

But it is uncertain whether BJT will be dissolved in the near future for contravening Election Commission regulations. 

However, BJT leader Anutin Charnvirakul said Pheu Thai now had enough MPs, so it did not need 34 more from his party. 

Anutin, a “buddy” of BJT de facto leader Newin Chidchob, joined the political reform forum initiated by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra late last month.

In December 2008, MPs who were part of the “Friends of Newin” group were accused by their colleagues in the People Power Party of betraying former prime minister Thaksin – after swapping sides and voting for Democrat Party leader Abhisit to replace then-prime minister Somchai Wongsawat, who lost his seat after the Constitutional Court dissolved his party. 

In the 2011 general election, Newin’s party only one 34 seats in the House, far fewer than its target of 70, and became an opposition party.

Today, while the Democrat Party is going strongly against the government, Anutin announced that his party was ready to support the government of Yingluck, who is Thaksin’s younger sister.

“We have always been friends of Thaksin, although we are in different parties,” Anutin said.

The BJT leader said he joined the reform forum as a Thai who wants to see Thailand out of its crisis. It did not make sense that he should not join the forum because his party is in the opposition.

In response to suspicion that he seems to be siding with the government, Anutin said: “In fact, BJT sides with Thailand. We don’t take sides.” 

He said his ultimate goal of reforming the country was for all parties to move forward equally. No one should have too much power. There should be no double standards and the rule of law should be restored.

“Where can we stand in the Pheu Thai Party? BJT has 34 MPs – seven from the Matchima faction [led by Somsak Thepsuthin], and 27 are ‘Friends of Newin’. If we want to return, we will have to wait in a long line,” he said.

Anutin was asked how he saw the future if his four-year-old party is dissolved. “I don’t think of it. For us, it happened twice. If it occurs again, what we will do is be reborn,” he said, suggesting they would just form a new political party.

Asked whether he would be reborn with an old father, Thaksin, Anutin said: “We are orphaned. We are children abandoned by our parents. We live by ourselves and never make a burden on parents. 

“We have never thought of hurting [our] parents. We are grateful children,” he said with a smile.

Anutin said that four years after breaking ties with Thaksin, Friends of Newin MPs still called the ex-PM “boss” at party meetings. 

“I don’t know how Thaksin thinks about us now. But he always is our boss. If he asks me and Newin to do something, we would [do it],” he said.

His important mission as BJT leader is to clear the stigma of being Thaksin’s betrayers. He said this label would change with time. 

“If they don’t need us, they may call us betrayers. But when they need us some day, they will agree that turning enemies to friends is the ultimate political strategy,” he said.