Thaksin started his career in the Thai police, and later became a successful entrepreneur, establishing Shin Corporation and Advanced Info Service, the largest mobile phone operator in Thailand. He became one of the richest people in Thailand prior to entering politics, although he and his family later sold their shares in Shin Corporation. Thaksin entered politics by joining the Phalang Dharma Party in 1994, and later founded the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party in 1998. After a landslide election victory in 2001, he became Prime Minister of Thailand.
Thaksin's distinctive economic, public health, education, energy, drugs and international relations policies made him the first elected Prime Minister in Thai history to complete his term in office, and helped him win a landslide re-election in 2005. Thaksin's policies were particularly effective at alleviating rural poverty (poverty fell by half in 5 years) and at providing near universal access to affordable health care. His main support base was the rural poor. Under his government, Thailand's standing on major indices of corruption improved substantially.[3][4][5]
However, his government was frequently challenged with allegations of corruption, dictatorship, demagogy, treason, conflicts of interest, acting undiplomatically, tax evasion, the use of legal loopholes and hostility towards a free press.[6] He was accused of lèse-majesté, selling domestic assets to international investors, and religious desecration.[7][8] Independent bodies, including Amnesty International, have also expressed concern at Thaksin's human rights record. Human Rights Watch described Thaksin as "a human rights abuser of the worst kind", alleging that he participated in media suppression and presided over extrajudicial killings.[9] A series of attacks in 2005 and 2006 by Sondhi Limthongkul and his People's Alliance for Democracy destroyed Thaksin's name and reputation.[10] He was also subject to several assassination attempts.[11][12]
On 19 September 2006, a military junta known as the Council for National Security (CNS) overthrew his government in a bloodless coup while he was attending a UN meeting in New York. In exile in England, the CNS warned him against returning to Thailand. His diplomatic passport was revoked after the CNS accused him of engaging in political activities abroad and Thai embassies were ordered not to facilitate his travels. All Thai media reporting his activities abroad were banned or censored, and Pro-Thaksin and anti-coup websites were also blocked or shut down.[13] A CNS-appointed tribunal dissolved the Thai Rak Thai party and banned Thaksin and the TRT's executive team of 111 politicians from engaging in politics for 5 years.[14] The CNS then established a committee that froze all of his bank accounts, claiming that he had become unusually wealthy during his term in government, and demanded that he return to Thailand to face charges of corruption.[15][16][17] Although Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont guaranteed his safety, CNS President Sonthi Boonyaratkalin warned him that he could be assassinated if he returned.
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