Thailand's exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Monday said he was ready to return to Thailand and fight his way back to lead the country again.
He made the vow in a 20-minute phone-in to a seminar of the Pheu Thai Party, a reincarnation of the disbanded pro-Thaksin Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT) and People Power Party (PPP), according to a report by The Nation news website.
It was not disclosed from where Thaksin, now a fugitive on corruption charges, made the phone-in.
During the phone-in, he affirmed to the MPs and executives of Pheu Thai that he would fight against his opponents for justice.
"I would like to tell the people that I'll be ready to return to the post of prime minister again if the people are also ready," Thaksin was quoted by The Nation report as saying. "But if the people give up, it will also be tantamount to my defeat as well."
Thaksin also assured his political allies that that he would not die abroad, though, he admitted, he will live in exile for a long time.
He also affirmed that he was both physically and mentally healthy enough to carry out the duties as a government head if the people need him.
He also thanked his supporters, referred as the "red-shirted people" in Thailand, for serving as his main force to fight against his opponents.
The red-shirted demonstrators, who were organized by the pro-Thaksin group United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), on Saturday staged a rally in central Bangkok -- first at Sanam Luang and later at night moved to the Government House to announce their political demands for the current government led by PM Abhisit Vejjajiva, including dissolution of House of Representatives and reinstallment of the 1997 Constitution.
The UDD people gave the government 15 days to meet their demands. Or they would come back with more rallies, they warned.
Thaksin went on exile since a bloodless military coup toppled his government on Sept. 19, 2006. He returned to the country last February after the PPP formed a coalition government, but fled the country again in August, facing a court sentence of two years for corruption charges.
The junta replaced the 1997 Constitution with a 2007 charter, which included terms that have put Thaksin and his political allies under a five-year ban from politics along with the dissolution of the Thai Rak Thai and then the People Power Party, the former two ruling parties before the Abhisit-led Democrat Party re-seized the power and formed the current coalition government last December.
(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2009)