In Thailand, cries of 'Singapore, go home'

A cabinet minister said he would poll the public to see if they wanted to buy back the satellites. But analysts say the damage done to Thailand's image among foreign investors may be hard to repair, even if they conclude that domestic politics is at play.

"If they had done this on Sept. 19, people would have said, well, you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. But five months later, it's not possible to make that argument," says Laurent Malespine, an independent political-risk consultant in Bangkok.

Behind the broadsides, say analysts, is a bid to vilify Thaksin for selling strategic assets to foreigners.

Having seized power alleging widespread government corruption, the regime has struggled to build a strong legal case against Thaksin, a billionaire businessman who won landslide election victories in 2001 and 2005. Going after Shin Satellite on patriotic grounds offers a way to tarnish the legacy of Thaksin and his political party, which is trying to revive its fortunes.

But picking a fight with Singapore, an old cold war ally, carries a price. Thailand and Singapore are strong proponents of welding the sluggish Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-nation regional bloc, into a free-trade zone with China by 2010.

That ambitious goal seems even more distant amid the wrangling between two influential member-states.

Last week, hundreds of protesters besieged a military base in northeast Thailand where Singapore Air Force pilots train, calling for Thailand to revoke its agreement with Singapore. This went beyond the rhetorical jabs of Sondhi, suggesting the nationalist genie was out of the bottle.

Many Thai observers contend that the row with Temasek isn't so much economic protectionism as a backlash against Thaksin's brand of capitalism that prized profits over social outreach. Thailand's export-driven economy will remain open to foreign investors, they say, even if domestic politics take precedence for now.

"The mood against Thaksin is gripping the country, but it will go away. You get angry, then you cool down. That's the only way to explain the irrationality of what's happening in Thailand today," says Narongchai Akrasanee, former commerce minister and a lawmaker in the interim legislature.

The maneuvers over Shin aren't the only effort going on to remove Thaksin's vestiges of influence from the country. Last week, a Thaksin economic aide who had been appointed by the new military government to reassure domestic and foreign investors was forced to quit amid anger at his ties to Thaksin and signs that some of the generals who backed the September coups were mobilizing street protesters to force him out.

Seemingly lost in the patriotic fervor is the actual ownership status of Shin Satellite, which operates four satellites that serve telecommunications customers in neighboring Cambodia and Laos and provide broadband access in China, India and across the region. Temasek only holds an indirect 41-percent stake in the company, with the remaining shares held by mostly Thai investors.

Shin Satellite's customers may also wonder at the fuss over ownership, says Richard Moe, a telecommunications analyst at Macquarie Securities in Bangkok, since most of them are non-Thais. Nor are they likely to take seriously the accusations of phone tapping.

"I don't think this is terribly well thought out.... I think what [the government] will do is encourage some kind of voluntary sale by Temasek. But Temasek realizes that it won't be easy if the government wants to take it away," says Mr. Moe.

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