Thailand's money politics has a new high roller -- policeman, billionaire and now prime ministerial wannabe.
Thaksin is the elite right, he's not the masses, for the most part. What you're average Thai,
at present, likes about the idea of a Thaksin regime is just that, the success. The country
has been buried in failure for the last three years.
Here's a guy they see that has been a success, has rode through the crisis and that perhaps
he can make the whole country a success again.
Well before the election Thaksin Shinwatra has been on the campaign trail.
Since forming his Thai Rak Thai or Thais Love Thai party two years ago, this Thai billionaire
has fashioned himself as a man of the people.
I have seen you on television -- you were not handsome at all.
very nice. I have dreamt so long about this. I with you will be the next prime minister.
Take a photo...take a photo! He is very nice...
I have dreamt so long about this. I with you will be the next prime minister.
Thailand's consumers have already invested a lot in Thaksin's success. Millions use his
mobile phone network and its new economy spin-offs.
The Thai Rak Thai leader is the founder and owner of the giant Shin Corporation -- the
company that made him Thailand's most powerful telecommunications tycoon.
Thaksin Shinawatra made his billions by exploiting all the right connections. Family connections
delivered him his first break in business. Connecting the nation to his mobile phone
network made him Thailand's richest man. Not content with mere fame and fortune, the tycoon
is now making a bid for his country's top political job.
In this venture, no expense is being spared. This extravaganza at the provincial town of
Chantaburi is not an opportunity to raise election funds, but to spend them.
If a personal appearance by Thaksin isn't enough to get tens of thousands of people
to brave the rain, then a light and laser show does the trick.
But Thaksin's pyrotechnical pitch for the Prime Ministership could soon blow up in his face.
He's accused of breaching Thailand's new constitution by stashing millions of dollars in shares
behind the names of his household staff.
It's a mistake that could cost him his political life according to the head of Thailand's new anti-corruption watchdog.
If found guilty according to the constitution he will be removed from his official position
and banned from taking any political position for five years.
The NCCC can't find Thaksin's domestic staff let alone speak with them. Transferred shares
have also made the tycoon's celebrity son, hot property indeed.
Son: I'm sorry my father doesn't let me talk. He's the only one that talks?
Undaunted by the allegations Thaksin poses as a corruption fighter.
Yes, that's what I want to fight. I declare war on corruption, poverty and narcotics.
Well, you know, at least charity have to start at home. So you have to start to tackle corruption
in the Cabinet level, which is very important.
But Thaksin is not the only politician accused of cooking the books and running afoul of Thailand's political reforms.
Prime Minister, Chuan Leekpai, is also under investigation for hiding his wealth. So too
are six of his ministers.
In Thailand, money and politics are inextricably mixed.
It's not policies, but pork barrel promises which grab attention.
Thaksin Shinawatra plays this game with billion-dollar bravado.
When I said I will allocate a fund of one million baht for each village they said it
will cost more than 70 million baht. Where will I get the money from? As a company president
I can borrow 30 or 40 billion baht. If I become leader, why can't I borrow 70 billion baht?
It's nothing.
At one lucky town two hours drive from Bangkok, five thousand people are guests of Thaksin
and his local candidate -- already an MP elected from a rival party.
More than 100 of Thai Rak Thai's candidates are defectors. TRT is new wine in old bottles.
He established the party as a party of a new generation, but in trying to consolidate his
power base he's had to take in the old generation to form a mass party. So there's the fear
that, yes, the party was launched under a grand reform banner but
the reality of Thai politics is that you still do need to take in the old style politicians to form a party.
Many of Thaksin's candidates have been lured from rival parties with promises of financial
inducements. At the voter level it's a similar story. For villagers who attend party meetings
and sign up -- its free T-shirts -- and if that's not enough to bag their vote a one
hundred baht note is thrown in as well.
Out here in Northern Thailand's high-country 100 baht -- less than five dollars -- could
feed a family for a couple of days.
We travelled to the village of Thoungyao to see for ourselves how political parties purchase political allegiance.
Here at the local community hall, villagers learn how to vote for Thaksin Shinawatra.
The Prime Minister Thaksin may or may not be Prime Minister for the Northern people.
Whether he is or not depends on you... because you have the power.
At this table Thai Rak Thai officials collect ID cards and sign people up with the party,
a deal sweetened with the promise of 100 baht to be paid later in the day.
Villagers were asked to select a representative to distribute Thaksin's promised village development fund.
Once the TRT becomes the government your village will receive one million baht for sure.
Our presence didn't go unnoticed. The meeting ended in confusion, ID cards were kept and no money was handed over.
This is the ticket you use to get your ID card back and money.
How much money did they promise you? About 100 Baht.
They told the community leaders to tell us to go to a meeting -- the Party is coming
here. They will give us 100 baht for our time. Whoever attends gets paid, they said.
Back in Bangkok Thaksin Shinawatra is guest of honour at an awards ceremony for Make Money magazine.
We have direct evidence that Thai Rak Thai officials in ?* province are paying villagers to join the party.
No. I don't think so.
Do you consider that corruption?
I don't think so. I think allegation will be rampant now.
Do you concede that there may well be vote-buying going on right now, prior to the election?
I think there might be, there might be.
In your own party? My own party, I don't think so. But maybe
some people. If I suddenly find out that they do that, we will not find them a candidate.
But the truth is vote buying is hardly isolated to Thaksin's party. All parties are guilty.
Corruption is quite deep rooted in the Thai society
to the point that a lot of people are giving up hope as to whether anything can really
be done to solve the problem. It has been ingrained into the whole political system.
Thepchai Yong is one of Thailand's most respected journalists. He was news director at ITV -- the
only free-to-air television station in Thailand not owned by the state.
Four months ago Thaksin Shinawatra's company, Shincorp, became a major shareholder in ITV
and Thepchai Yong lost his job.
A lot of people are now questioning the credibility of ITV -- whether the station now is leaning
in favour of TRT and Thaksin, the party leader.
Frankly speaking, I have doubts, very strong doubts now as to what extent ITV can retain its independence.
You would not believe the police could even corrupt road tolls in Bangkok.
Before his removal Thepchai presented a series of investigative stories exposing police corruption.
We found that at almost every toll there were traffic policemen waiting
to stop trucks and collect money from the drivers.
Thaksin Shinawatra has come a long way since his early days a police lieutenant colonel.
Indeed he owes his early success in business to a government granted monopoly over the
supply of computers to the nation's police.
Thank you brother... want to see a policeman become Prime Minister? Police know how to
solve police problems -- nobody knows us like we know ourselves.
They have mutual interests for example, politicians need policemen to serve their interests, and
the policemen need the protection of politicians to get promotions, to get posted to where
they think it can serve them best.
Thailand's police are anything but independent of the political process.
Many Thai politicians are graduates of this Bangkok police academy. The force is a training
ground for men aspiring to political power.
These young men are the victims of a nightclub stoush with members of Thailand's most infamous
policing and political dynasty.
This is Thailand's deputy opposition leader Chalerm Yubaamroong making a late-night
appearance at a Bangkok police station to bail out one of his brawling sons.
I don't want to complain about the police because my father was a policeman. I am a
policeman, my brother and my sons are policemen -- but police behaviour is pathetic.
That police corruption is rampant is common knowledge in Thailand. So too that the business
of politics is a highly profitable pursuit.
Chalerm himself has been investigated for being unusually rich.
At Thonburi, on the outskirts of Bangkok, the largess of Chalerm and his two elder sons
make them hometown heroes. All three are candidates in the coming election.
Look at my photo here. If you vote for me, I will win a seat and you will be proud of
me. Look at my photo. See? Am I ugly? Am I ugly? My good looks are second to no one.
You can tell everybody that your MP is the youngest and most handsome in Parliament.
The most important thing is that my sons learn how to behave like a politician like I do.
Just how politicians behave in this, the first general election since '97's crisis, could
have implications for Thailand's entire reform program.
If vote buying scandals are rife, the new constitution may effectively jettison the election result.
New generation politicians, like the Democrats' progressive pin-up boy Abhisit Vejjajiva know
this only too well.
I think we're at the crossroads -- we're emerging from a crisis. We are also a maturing democracy.
We have had a very progressive constitution put in place which will be put in practice
in terms of general elections for the first time. So it's going to be a very important
decision that the Thai people are faced with.
Under the constitution, Parliament must be convened 30 days after the elections are called.
If they are not then we face a constitutional crisis.
The risk of a constitutional crisis is that the country faces a political vacuum that
is all the more destabilising to international investor confidence in the economy, and quite
frankly could open the door for a conservative backlash against the entire political reform agenda.
In Thailand a conservative backlash has most often meant a military coup.
Even today, Thailand's army commander concedes there are officers still hungry for a coup.
We are still in a society which we are moving towards a democracy which we think will be
the right one. For us and it will take some time -- it's not just turn it off and on just like a switch.
1992 was the last time the land of smiles became a land of bullets.
Hundreds of people were killed when the military crushed public protests sparked by a general appointing himself Prime Minister.
The general and the protest leader were called before Thailand's King on their hands and knees.
How you solve the problem is up to you -- but the interests of the nation must come first.
Those few royal words made the bloodletting stop. It is impossible to overestimate the
reverence and respect the king commands in Thailand today.
He is above politics, almost in a godly sense, whereas Thai politicians
generally represent everything that is, that is human, in the sense greed, corruption,
a desire for power.
Modern Thailand is still struggling to become a robust democracy.
A Thailand that can cope without corruption and without coups, and without requiring the intervention of its 73-year-old king.
The king will be around until the country makes real political progress and them the
system itself can survive without needing to have the same kind of type of intervention
that was required of His Majesty in time of crisis in the past.
We will make the world know that we are your children. We will follow your guidance to
make Thailand happy and prosperous forever.
Reporter: Geoff Thompson Producer: Geoff Clegg
Camera: Kate Goodman Research: S. Panyastianpong
Editor: Stuart Miller