Sondhi Limthongkul: Thaksin's nemesis back on the warpath

In a move observers warn could reignite Thailand’s political conflict, media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul has pledged to mobilise street protests “for the last time” to unseat the government led by the daughter of his long-time adversary, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The 77-year-old former protest leader, who co-founded the once-indomitable People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), highlighted numerous alleged shortcomings in Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s administration, saying it was not serving the national interest.

Sondhi said he would visit Government House on December 9 to seek an explanation of the government’s plan to negotiate a maritime territory dispute with Cambodia under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by both countries during Thaksin’s tenure in 2001.

Critics claim the MoU puts Thailand at a disadvantage as it accepts Cambodia’s claim to the Gulf of Thailand territory said to contain vast oil and gas resources.

However, Sondhi’s political enemies in the ruling Pheu Thai Party doubt he can muster anti-government crowds on the scale of protests almost two decades ago. They say changes in the political landscape make such mass mobilisations unlikely.

Key government figures, meanwhile, warn that new street protests would further damage a country already reeling from years of political conflict.

Asia’s Rupert Murdoch

A key player in conflicts that have shaped Thai politics since the early 2000s, Sondhi was born on November 7, 1947, to a Thai-Chinese family in Sukhothai. His parents later relocated to Bangkok, where they established a printing house that published newspapers for the ethnic-Chinese community.

After completing high school, Sondhi headed to the University of California in Los Angeles for his bachelor’s degree. There he worked as a reporter for the student newspaper, The Daily Bruin. He completed his master’s degree at Utah State University in 1972.

After returning to Thailand, Sondhi took over as managing editor of the Prachathipatai (Democracy) newspaper at the young age of 27. After a few false starts as media entrepreneur in the late 1970s, he eventually triumphed by launching the business-focused monthly, Manager, in 1982. The paper quickly evolved into a daily newspaper.

Sondhi later expanded his media empire with English-language publications, including an English version of Manager, the Hong Kong-based monthly Asia Inc, regional daily newspaper Asia Times, and a local lifestyle magazine in Los Angeles called Buzz.

At one time, his portfolio boasted about 30 magazines and newspapers, spanning Thailand, Hong Kong, China and the United States, earning him the moniker of “Asia’s Rupert Murdoch”.

However, his media empire suffered a blow during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Facing mounting debts, he had no choice but to sell off his struggling publications as Manager Group slipped deep into the red.

During his heyday, Sondhi had ventured beyond the media realm into projects as diverse as a mobile network in Thailand, a satellite project in Laos, a hotel in China, and a cement factory in Vietnam.

In 1996, Fortune magazine estimated Sondhi’s net worth at around US$600 million (about 15 billion baht in those days).

However, the 1997 Tom Yam Kung crisis left Manager Group reportedly burdened with debts of around 20 billion baht, forcing Sondhi to discard his non-media ventures.

Friends turned foes

Sondhi and Thaksin were on amicable terms while they were both in the mobile business. This was long before Thaksin became prime minister in 2001. Their ties soured once Sondhi began criticising Thaksin’s government through his weekly show “Muangthai Rai Sapda”, aired on the state-owned Channel 9.

After the show was taken off air in 2005, Sondhi adapted by hosting mobile talk shows at venues across Bangkok, rallying opposition against Thaksin’s government.

This movement quickly gained momentum and eventually led to the formation of the PAD with Sondhi as the top boss.

The PAD launched huge street protests against Thaksin, accusing him of rampant corruption, abuse of power, conflicts of interest, and disrespecting the monarchy.

The yellow shirts, named after their rallying colour, escalated their protests after Thaksin’s Thai Rak Thai Party won the 2005 general election by a landslide, handing him a second term in office.

The protests culminated in a military coup that overthrew Thaksin’s government on September 19, 2006.

However, PAD protesters soon returned to the streets, helping to oust the governments of Samak Sundaravej and his successor Somchai Wongsawat in 2008. Both were seen as proxies of Thaksin.

At the height of protests in 2008, the yellow shirts seized Government House and Bangkok’s two airports. Sondhi and other PAD leaders were slapped with criminal charges over the chaos, sparking a legal battle that continued for several years.

In April 2009, Sondhi’s van was ambushed by a group of gunmen armed with assault rifles near his Bangkok office. He narrowly escaped with his life, sustaining severe injuries. He later suggested that “high-ranking men in uniform” were seeking to eliminate him.