Jakrapob surrenders upon return from 15 years in self-imposed exile

After arriving at 7.30am, Jakrapob failed to exit the gates at Suvarnabhumi International Airport to meet an army of reporters waiting to cover his return. Two relatives instead emerged from Gate 9 on the inbound passenger area wheeling Jakrapob’s luggage at 8.51am, and reported that Jakrapob had been apprehended by CSD officers upon exiting his plane.

The relatives said Immigration officers took over an hour to process Jakropob’s entry because his passport had expired and they therefore had to issue a new temporary identification document for him.

After Immigration clearance, the CSD officers drove Jakrapob to the CSD head office directly from the ground floor without going up the elevated exit at Gate 9.

The relatives added that Jakrapob would later speak to the press at the CSD head office. They noted that Jakrapob did not appear worried when he was being taken away by police.

When the police took Jakrapob to the CSD, he was immediately escorted from the basement car park to an interrogation room.

His lawyer, Chokechai Angkaew, stated that he had prepared assets worth 600,000 baht to seek Jakrapob’s release on bail for two arrest warrants – one for the arsenal charge and the other for lese majeste.

Before his arrival, Jakrapo’s Facebook page posted a four-minute video clip depicting him inside a car being driven to an international airport to take the flight back home.

The post did not say where Jakrapob was flying back from, but it is believed to have been Phnom Penh airport as Jakrapob has been reportedly living in exile there.

In the clip, Jakrapob said he had left Thailand for 15 years and missed the Thai people dearly.

“I left Thailand to live abroad because of political reasons that I believe many know well. Now, I am riding in my friend’s car to the airport to take a flight home. I’ll reach Thailand on Thursday, March 28, at 7.35am on a direct flight,” Jakrapob said.

He added that the political conflicts of 15 years ago prompted him to have concern for his safety and so had to leave the country.

During his exile, Jakrapob said, he has been monitoring the situation in Thailand closely as if he were in the kingdom. The situation did not permit him to return sooner.

He said he had witnessed the changes underway globally, prompting him to have concern for the motherland.

Jakrapob said in the clip that he had accumulated a lot of experience during his 15 years in exile that he was certain he could use to help prepare Thailand to cope with global change, such as climate change, political issues, Artificial Intelligence and emerging diseases.

He added that during his time away, he had come to understand that Thais should no longer be divided but rather united to cope with global change.

“When I reach Thailand today, I can’t walk freely. I’ll return to the judicial process as there are many cases waiting for me. I’ll surrender and ask police to take legal action against me. I hope I can fight the cases and defend myself and return to freedom to serve the country,” Jakrapob said.

“What I used to say and write about or express – I could not go back to change them. But I would like to say I have new attitudes now. Please give me a chance to present how my new ideas could help the country.”

Jakrapob had been a fugitive from several charges, including the lese majeste law and allegations of storing an arsenal of firearms.

Prior to entering politics, Jakrapob had been a popular political talk show host and viewed as being an articulate and strong advocate.

He was the government spokesperson for the first Thaksin Shinawatra government from 2003 to 2005, and entered politics fully by contesting the elections of 2005 and 2006 as a Thai Rak Thai candidate, but failed in both contests. He later became the deputy PM’s secretary-general for the second Thaksin government.

After the 2006 coup and the dissolution of Thai Rak Thai, Jakrapob was among the founders of People Television satellite TV, acting as a mouthpiece for anti-coup activists. He was a founding member of the red-shirt movement before it was upgraded to the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship.

He became PM’s Office minister for the Samak Sundaravej government from February 6, 2007, to September 17, 2008.

He was forced to resign in May 2008 after being accused of slandering the monarchy in a speech he delivered at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand on August 29, 2007.

By April 2009, he had fled the country and did not return when the public prosecutor decided in September 2011 to drop the case. However, after the 2014 military coup, the junta-empowered National Council of Peace and Order revived the case and issued a summons for Jakrapob to report to a military base. When the politician refused to show up, an arrest warrant was issued against him for defying the coup makers’ orders.

Then in 2017, the junta accused him of storing an arsenal of firearms to incite strife in the capital. The police claimed that some of these weapons had come from the same sources as those used during the 2014 political turmoil.