Samak Sundaravej - Political Career

Political Career

In 1968 Samak joined the opposition Democrat Party. Having strong ties to the military, Samak became head of the party's right-wing faction. In the 1976 general election, he defeated M. R. Kukrit Pramoj and became Deputy Interior Minister in the cabinet of M. R. Seni Pramoj. He quickly became prominent for arresting several allegedly leftist activists.

In late August 1976, Seni sent Samak to Singapore to try to persuade Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn not to return to Thailand. However, writer Paul M. Handley claims Samak was a close confidant of Queen Sirikit and was told to guarantee royal support for the exiled Field Marshal. This is apparently supported by Samak's claim during a cabinet meeting that the King had not opposed Thanom's return.

On 5 October, Samak was removed from his ministerial position, and in reaction organised an anti-government demonstration calling for the dismissal of three liberal Democrat ministers he branded as "communists". He also was prominent in the events leading to the 6 October 1976 Massacre at Thammasat University, in which leftist students protesting against the return of a former military dictator were killed by rightwing mobs. Samak had played a crucial role in instigating the violence that ensued against the protestors, whom he considered to be disloyal communists.

In interviews he gave to CNN and al-Jazeera in 2008, Samak denied any involvement in the attacks that left at least 46 dead, and he insisted only one person was killed intentionally. However, accounts from witnesses, documents and published reports clearly identify Samak as a program host on the "Armoured Brigade" radio station, a military-owned ultra-right station that constantly broadcast anti-communist and pro-rightwing propaganda. Samak stirred up hatred against the student demonstrators and intentionally disobeyed the Prime Minister's orders that he "stop creating divisiveness." Defending the return of ousted Field Marshal Thanom on the radio, Samak told listeners that the students demonstrating against him were committing suicide.

Following the coup on 6 October 1976, Samak became Minister of the Interior in the administration of Tanin Kraivixien, an anti-Communist royalist with a reputation for honesty. Samak immediately launched a campaign that caused the arrest of hundreds of alleged leftists, including many writers and other intellectuals.

In 1979 Samak founded the right-wing Prachakorn Thai Party. In the 1979 General Elections it defeated the incumbent Democrat Party by winning 29 of the 39 seats in Bangkok. In the 1983 General Elections it extended its base to 36 seats, and did not suffer greatly from the Democrat surge in 1986.

In 1992, as Deputy Prime Minister in the military-appointed Suchinda administration, Samak justified the military's brutal suppression of pro-democracy demonstrators by declaring the government had the right to do so as long as the United States could send its troops to kill people in other countries, referring to the Gulf War which defeated Saddam Hussein's Iraq in 1991. He remained unrepentant and continued to stand by his justification, stating the military was merely trying to restore law and order after the pro-democracy demonstrators, whom he branded as "troublemakers", had resorted to "mob rule".

From 2001 to 2006, Thai Rak Thai was the ruling party under Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, its founder. In 2006 the military staged a bloodless coup to remove Thaksin, who was then acting as interim prime minister between elections, from power. His Thai Rak Thai party was dissolved on 30 May 2007 by the military appointed Constitutional Tribunal for violation of election laws. Members of the dissolved party immediately organised a new party called the People's Power Party.

In 2007 the People's Power Party came to power in the first election since the military coup the previous year. Samak, then the party's leader, became Prime minister of Thailand. He was promptly accused of being a proxy for the exiled Thaksin and massive street protests by the People's Alliance for Democracy. He was convicted of libel on an old charge and was sentenced to two years in jail, though the sentence was suspended pending appeal. On 25 September 2008, the Appeals Court upheld the two year jail sentence. Samak jumped bail and left for the United States, supposedly to receive cancer treatment.