Thaksin hawking red shirts for 500 baht

Updated

A popular new video proportedly shows Thaksin urging supporters to: "Line up for 500 baht."

However, this JOTMAN.COM transcript provides necessary context toward making sense of the remark:

If (they) return democracy to the people, and return a democratic constitution (to the people), then whoever is in the government, I'm ready to give advice. But if you people want me back to do the job, then I'm ready to serve you. I'm ready to work hard at the age of sixty. And you don't need to go to queue up for 500 baht. Brother and sister, those people who use to receive the edible fruits of democracy during the Thai Rak Thai administration when I was prime minister. . . .

It's not particularly surprising to me that Thaskin has probably helped to fund the anti-government demonstrators. The yellow shirt protesters who caused mayhem when they took over Bangkok's airports in November were obviously getting paid too. The source of the funding for those protests is still a matter of great interest.

The real story here is the degree to which this video has caught fire on the Internet. It has been viewed a quarter million times over the past 24 hours, making it a top-ten YouTube video for the day. Hearing Thaksin talk about paying supporters obviously hit a nerve with people. Why?

It ought to be noted that conventional wisdom among Thaksin opponents holds that the former prime minister was guilty of "vote-buying." To many Thai ears, hearing Thaksin confess to "funding protesters" must sound tantamount to an admission of guilt concerning the most popular line of attack typically made against the Thai leader: namely, the charge that Thaksin buys his supporters.

Related to this accusation, I explored the question as to whether poor Thais actually fared better under Thaksin in this post.



Update:

• Note Boomer's observation in comments.
• Bangkok Pundit's theory is that the 500 baht refers to the long queues that had been reported for a short term government assistance program reported in late March.