Thaksin Shinawatra is a successful Thai business tycoon who
has become extremely wealthy within the last fifteen years from
investment in telecommunications and lately also in mass-transit
infrastructure. He entered politics in the mid-1990s and became
a party leader and minister in several governments.
Through a study of Thaksin's business career and his political
involvement I intend to illustrate how Thai politics functions in
practice, as well as to highlight the intimate links between
money and politics in Thailand, particularly in the telecommunications
sector. During the economic boom the telecommunications
sector was characterised by substantial profits and stiff
competition, but after the economic crisis in July 1997 the Thai
telecoms firms sustained heavy losses. In a surprise move the
two biggest telecommunications conglomerates-Shinawatra
and Charoen Phokapand-announced that they would merge
some of their telecommunications firms, thereby creating one of
the biggest concentrations of assets in Thailand and at the same
time a de fact0 monopolisation of tlie telecommunications
market. As if that were not enough, Shinawatra, together with
his former arch-rival, has launched a new political party-Thai
Rak Thai [Thai loves Thai]. This move may have profound
implications for the development of Thai politics.'
