Anti-press rant unbecoming of ex-PM

At the risk of offending just about everyone political in Thailand, I would say that the yellow shirts and Thaksin Shinawatra all exhibit significant paranoia, noting that I worked for the most paranoid people in the world during the Cold War.

In this case it appears to be a symbiotic relationship, with the fears of the yellow shirts resulting in words that throw fear into Thaksin, eliciting words from Thaksin that create more fear in the yellow shirts, all contributing to a vicious cycle of fear and words and words and fear on both sides that seems to grow bigger as time goes on.

Ironically, the yellow shirts and Thaksin seem to be mutually dependent and those who dabble in reincarnation have theories about that kind of thing.

Can Dom Dunn recall when Thaksin claimed that Thai taxis drivers were being paid to spread nasty rumours about him? 

If so, he could ask any good psychologist what prompts such statements.

Paranoia is probably a larger part of politics everywhere in the world than many politicians would care to admit – and it might even seem to be an essential part of politics to some.

But I tend to believe that Thais in general are much too psychologically healthy to let paranoia consume them the way that it consumes those in some advanced countries, and I would respectfully ask the yellow shirts especially to take note of that.

It has always surprised me that Thaksin has betrayed his paranoia in various ways over the years, as he is otherwise obviously quite an astute and successful man – whether or not the yellow shirts are correct in their assessments of him. But his apparent worries about English-language newspapers in Thailand always being against him, which is not true, make him appear to be a smaller-than-life drudge rather than a larger-than-life former prime minister.

Sadly, I do not feel that Thaksin ever achieved the pinnacle of true leadership, the point at which he could comfortably remain above it all without lowering himself to common fisticuffs – figuratively speaking, of course – so perhaps there is a summit for him yet to reach.

Guy Baker

Bangkok