First Thaksin, now Jakrapob, which political exile is next to return?
The end of Thailand’s decade-long junta administration following the defeat of former Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha in the May 2023 general election has made way for political figures in self-imposed exile abroad to gradually return to their home country.
Political critics have already dubbed the phenomenon the “Thaksin Model”, as it started with the return from nearly 17 years of self-exile abroad by former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last August.
Thaksin had lived in exile since 2008, spending most of his time in Dubai after his government was ousted by a military coup led by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin on September 19, 2006.
On Thursday (March 28), former television celebrity and ex-PM’s Office minister Jakrapob Penkair arrived in Thailand following 15 years in self-imposed exile, reportedly in Laos.
He was however immediately taken into custody by police at Suvarnabhumi Airport as he was a fugitive from several charges, including the lese majeste law and allegations of storing an arsenal of firearms.
Jakrapob was a founding member of the red-shirt movement before it was upgraded to the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship. The movement outspokenly supported Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai Party and its successors, including the ruling Pheu Thai Party.
After the 2014 military coup, the junta-empowered National Council of Peace and Order (NCPO) summoned several red-shirt leaders and other activists to report to a military base for an ‘attitude adjustment’ session. Those who refused to show up were issued arrest warrants for defying the coup-makers’ orders.
After Jakrapob’s return, analysts have been compiling the list of former red-shirt members who could be soon returning home from self-exile abroad, following the so-called ‘Thaksin Model’.
Topping the list is Charupong Ruangsuwan, the former Interior and Transport Minister during Yingluck Shinawatra’s government. He also led Pheu Thai Party from 2012 to 2014. He has reportedly been living in either the United States or Sweden since 2014, after the Prayut-led military coup.
Next is Sunai Chulpongsatorn, a former Pheu Thai Party-listed MP and deputy government spokesperson during Chavalit Yongchaiyudh’s government. Like Charupong, he fled Thailand to live in the United States since 2014.
Writer and political activist Jaran Ditapichai is also expected to return home from his self-exile in France. He was accused of leading a lese majeste movement in 2013 and was ordered to report to the military after the 2014 coup. Jaran decided to instead flee the country.
Arisman Pongruangrong, a former ‘90s era singer and Pheu Thai MP, could also be soon returning. He posted a live video on Facebook last week, saying that he missed home and wanted to return; he did not share with the audience where he is now living. Arisman was charged with several offences from his participation in red-shirt anti-junta protests as well as the storming of the 2009 Asean summit site in Pattaya, Chonburi.
Last on the list is Jom Petchpradab, a former news reporter and host of political TV programmes on several channels. Before he fled the country in 2014 in defiance of the NCPO’s order, Jom was working at Voice TV station, a Thai Rak Thai mouthpiece founded by Thaksin’s son, Panthongtae. He was reportedly living in the United States.
