At some point before a very specific date in time, the Thai government should have realized that ShinCorp, a company that controls...• all of Thailand's mobile phone service;...is a company that is probably a fairly important factor in Thai national security.
• the majority of Thailand's internet service;
• Thailand's only satellite service;
• Thailand's only independent television station; and
• several other key Thai industries through stakeholdings
The point at which the Thai government should have realized that important fact was the day before business tycoon Thaksin ShinawatraThai businessman and politician, is the deposed Prime Minister of Thailand and the former leader of the populist Thai Rak Thai party. (Source: Wikipedia) sold his companyIn January 2006, he sold his family telecommunications empire, Shin Corp., to Singapore’s government-investment fund, Temasek for $1.9 billion — a sum Thaksin’s family pocketed tax-free. It was the deal that crystallized Thailand’s anger, and was the beginning of the end for Thailand’s tycoon-turned-prime minister, who was toppled in a military coup on Sept. 19. (Source, Newsweek.) to the government of Singapore... not the day after.Now, of course, with all Thai military communications passing through Singaporean owned phone junctions, and Thailand relying on Singaporean owned satellite connections for weather details, and with Thai internet and mobile phone service controlled by Singapore, the Thai government is thinking that they want ShinCorp returned to them.
Gee. Ya think?
Next time, try an ounce of prevention: Protect your national security by imposing limits on which activities the companies that are vital to national security are able to engage in. Every other country on earth does this. Thailand should have done the same a while ago.
p.s. Etymology tidbit: Tycoon comes from the Japanese shogun title, taikun, and its first usage was as an affectionate nickname for Abraham Lincoln given to him by his cabinet members. ("Thai coon" jokes are welcome in the comments section... the animal, not the epithet, that is.)
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