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Thai government seeks royal pardon for Thaksin

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Daniel Ten Kate & Anuchit Nguyen – Thailand's government will submit a petition to King Bhumibol Adulyadej requesting a royal pardon for exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra and risking renewed conflict a month after his sister became prime minister.

The government will revive a 2009 petition from Thaksin's supporters as part of efforts to bring him back into the country, Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung said on Thursday in Bangkok. Thaksin, ousted in a coup five years ago, has lived overseas since fleeing a 2008 jail sentence for abuse of power.

"Without Thaksin, we wouldn't win a landslide in the election," Chalerm said in comments broadcast on TNN cable television network. "If we have an opportunity, we will try everything to return fairness to Thaksin and bring him back home."

The petition could trigger protests, which erupted in 2008 when Thaksin's opponents seized airports and government buildings to help oust his allies the last time they held power. The military cited a threat to the monarchy when toppling Thaksin in 2006.

"A strategy that involves a petition to the king is inevitably very provocative," said Michael Montesano, a visiting research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore. "This will certainly enrage the enemies of the government."

Thaksin backers submitted a petition in August 2009 seeking a pardon from the king for the fugitive billionaire. Chalerm said former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva blocked the initiative.

The request "was shelved by the previous government," Chalerm said. "What this government will do is just bring this petition back to the normal process."

Justice Minister Pracha Promnog formed a committee to help him handle the petition, the Bangkok Post reported on Thursday without citing anyone.

Yingluck led her Pheu Thai party to a majority win in July two months after emerging on the political scene. Thaksin-backed parties have won the past five elections in Thailand dating back to 2001.

Thaksin said in Tokyo last month that he would only return home once rifts within Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy had been healed.

Petitioning the monarch for justice is a tradition that dates back to the 13th century, when a bell was hung outside the palace for citizens to ring if they had a grievance, according to the Ministry of Culture. The king has the prerogative to grant pardons, according to the constitution.