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Thailand's exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a bloodless coup five months ago, is making plans to call Australia home.
Mr Thaksin spent the weekend in Melbourne and Sydney, playing golf at the Capital Golf Club in Melbourne and at The Lakes in Sydney. In Sydney, the billionaire has engaged an eastern suburbs property developer to find a suitable home. Mr Thaksin won three landslide election victories but has been unable to return to his homeland since the Thai military seized power when he was attending a UN summit in New York in September. "I am looking in the eastern suburbs for a property with good views of the harbour," he told The Australian yesterday. "I think Sydney is very safe and I have friends here. I like Australia. The people are friendly and sincere. The weather is good. It is clean and safe and I can play golf all year round." Mr Thaksin said he hoped the military-installed government now running Thailand would not see his visit to Australia as provocative. "I think the Government is too concerned about my activities, which are actually very private," he said. "Every time I speak to the media I try to be very conservative as a former prime minister. No matter how bitter you are, you have to be very faithful to your country, to your people and to your monarch. I try to be very constructive but they are still concerned." The Thai Government expressed its displeasure with Singapore after a private meeting between Mr Thaksin and the island nation's Deputy Prime Minister, S. Jayakumar, last month. Thailand withdrew an invitation to Singapore's Foreign Minister to visit Thailand, cancelled a civil servant exchange program and reviewed Singapore's use of Thai territory for military training exercises. Mr Thaksin was at pains to stress that his visit to Australia was as a private citizen. Mr Thaksin said he would not be meeting media mogul James Packer during his visit but said: "He has been kind enough to send me letters and send Australian wine to me." Mr Packer's listed Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd is interested in investing in casinos in Thailand. Thailand does not allow casinos, but Mr Thaksin said he believed they could play a valuable role in creating jobs for local people and developing tourism. Mr Thaksin, whose family controversially sold its stake in Shin Corporation to Temasek Holdings, the investment arm of the Singapore Government, in January last year, said he had no interest in returning to either business or politics and has no business or political interests in Australia. "We have sold the family business," he said. "All we have now is some real estate. I want my children to grow their own businesses from the beginning. I may just advise them. "In a way, I am grateful to the military government for forcing me into an early retirement so that I can spend time with my family again. "Now the only activity I am considering is investing in the stock market and doing charity work to support the rural development work of the king (of Thailand)."
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