Thailand to issue passport for Thaksin soon

Thailand will issue a passport for its fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra "very soon," his sister's government said Friday, angering the controversial ex-leader's opponents. Thaksin, who remains a hugely divisive figure, was deposed by the army in 2006 and lives in self-imposed exile overseas to avoid a two-year prison term on a conviction for corruption that he contends is politically motivated. He was stripped of his passport by the previous Thai government but received citizenship from Montenegro last year, allowing him to travel internationally. His sister Yingluck is now premier after a resounding election victory by his party earlier this year, in the wake of mass opposition protests in 2010 by Thaksin's "Red Shirt" supporters which ended with a bloody army crackdown. "When Thaksin's passport was cancelled, there was no order from the courts or the police to seize it," Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul told reporters. "So I will use my authority to do whatever is not illegal under the regulations of the ministry to give the passport to ex-premier Thaksin," he said. "We are checking some more details but it will be very soon. It will be a normal Thai passport. Let's make a normal passport legally first. It doesn't have to be a diplomat passport." The announcement stoked tensions with Thaksin's enemies, already irked by recent reports -- denied by the government -- of plans to see a royal pardon for the ex-premier that could allow him to return without serving time. The opposition Democrat Party said it was not surprised by the decision to issue a new passport for Thaksin, saying that Surapong's "only duty" as foreign minister was to help the fugitive ex-premier. "If you look at his background, he has no knowledge of foreign languages, no foreign policy experience," Democrat Party spokesperson Chavanond Intarakomalyasut told AFP. "He was appointed only to help Thaksin. It is the only thing he is good for and his only duty as foreign minister." Thailand's influential and anti-Thaksin "Yellow Shirt" royalist movement said the foreign minister could be breaking the law by issuing Thaksin a Thai passport as it is illegal for Thais to hold dual nationality. "(Surapong) must be able to answer questions over Thaksin holding another nationality and being a fugitive," a spokesman for the People's Alliance for Democracy, Parnthep Puapongpan, told AFP. The PAD disagrees with the decision but will not organise protests, he said, adding that if it became clear that the minister's action was illegal the group would file a complaint with the relevant authorities. The foreign ministry's decision is legal and does not break any Thai regulations, Yingluck told reporters at Bangkok's main airport after returning from a visit to the country's south. "This is all the foreign ministry's decision -- I'm not involved in issuing passports," she said, adding that she was sure the decision was based on the merits of the individual case and not done as a favour to Thaksin. News of Thaksin's new passport comes at a delicate time for Yingluck as the 44-year-old leader, who was a political novice before taking office in August, grapples with the fallout from devastating floods. She was hospitalised earlier this week with diarrhoea, fatigue, abdominal pain and nausea but discharged after an overnight stay. In the early days of her premiership, Thaksin appeared keen to boost his profile with controversial trips to Japan and Cambodia, but he has largely remained silent during the flooding. Yingluck has not yet taken any legal action clearing the path for his return, and analysts have warned it would be risky for her to do so during the flood crisis, although the waters are now receding in many areas.