Fri, Sep 03, 2010
The Nation/Asia News Network
Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has told a Thai newspaper that he is not sick and has been doing business in Africa.
Thaksin gave a phone-interview to a Thai Rath Online reporter after his lawyer Noppadon Pattama distributed media pictures of Thaksin to disprove rumours he is sick or in critical condition, as some rumours said.
He did not elaborate which country he is in at the moment, saying he travels constantly.
"People lied about me all the time. If you believe those lies, you have to ask yourself if there's something wrong with you," Thaksin replied when asked to comment on speculation about his health.
"Now you hear my voice. Do you think I'm sick?" he asked the reporter.
Asked why he had stopped posting messages on his Twitter page, Thaksin said "I want reconciliation to happen."
He said he had quit his advisory posts with the Cambodian government and the Cambodian prime minister out of annoyance.
In an interview with Thai Rath, Thaksin said he found the two posts "Annoying. People always accused me of this and that."
"In order not to be annoyed any more, I asked Hun Sen if I should quit. I don't want to be annoyed so I can be free. Moreover, I really don't have time for that. I had a position but couldn't do anything for them. I rarely have time to go to Cambodia. So I'd rather quit."
Asked if he would accept the posts again if the Cambodian government wanted to reappoint him, Thaksin replied: "No more. Let me do something else. I'd better do something for myself. They robbed me of half of my wealth, so I had to do it to feed my kids," he said.
Commenting on Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya asking Montenegro to arrest him, Thaksin said he never cared for Kasit.
On his plan to come back to be Thai prime minister, Thaksin said, "I don't have a future in politics. My political future is just being a people's man. That's all and nothing else."
Asked about when he wished to come back to Thailand, Thaksin admitted he wanted to return home "but it's not as important as the country becoming peaceful and its people reconciled".
"I wish people would stop bullying, especially the weak. That's bad. It will cause and reinforce rage in people's minds. I wish people would stop seeing the weak as if they were not Thai people. That's dangerous for the country."
Thaksin denied his pictures taken with Nelson Mandela were faked.
"I can guarantee they were taken last Friday around 2pm," Thaksin said, adding that at 4pm he went on to meet and take pictures with Winnie Mandela at the house where she welcomed Nelson Mandela after 27 years in jail.
Associated Press said the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg confirmed the visit took place last Friday.
"It was not a meeting, it was a courtesy call," spokesman Sello Hatang said. He said he did not know what they discussed.
Thai Rath Online said it would today publish the second part of the interview in which Thaksin speaks his mind about what happened behind the September 19, 2006 coup.
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