“Finnish conspiracy” lurks behind political crisis in Thailand
Ex-PM alleged to have plotted to topple monarchy while in Lapland in 1999
By Jukka Huusko
Why does Thailand’s deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra have a reindeer driving licence?
How can that possibly have anything to do with the political crisis in Thailand, which has been going on for three years?
The answer is in the “Finland conspiracy” - a set of allegations put forward in the Thai media two years ago. According to the claims, Thaksin and his allies would have drawn up a plan at a secret meeting in Finland in 1999 to depose King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
The accusations are known in Thailand as the “Finland conspiracy”, the “Finland declaration”, the “Finland plan”, or the “Finland strategy”.
Even though there is no valid proof of the existence of any plan, the claims continue to lurk in the background in Thailand’s endless political crisis, in which Thaksin’s supporters and monarchists plot against each other.
The accusations, which spread in the Thai media in May 2006 fuelled the downward spiral of Thaksin’s popularity, and four months after the “Finland conspiracy” was made public, in September 2006, the army staged a coup.
Later, billionaire Thaksin was convicted in absentia for corruption and misuse of power.
According to the claims, Thaksin and his fellow party members drew up a five-part “declaration” during a visit to Finland, aimed at deposing the Chankri dynasty of the Thai Kingdom.
In the declaration, a republic was to have been formed in Thailand, and the Rak Thai party at the time was to have been made the country’s only party, and Thaksin himself was to have been made the first president in Thailand’s history.
Supporters of the plan were said to have included influential businessmen, and veterans of the 1973 uprising.
The allegations were published as a five-part series of articles in the Manager Daily, owned by Thai media mogul and milionaire Sondhi Limthongul in May 2006. The series was headlined “Finland strategy: Thailand’s revolution plan?”
Sopndhi was Thaksin’s former friend, who later turned against him. He is also a founding member of the monarchist popular movement, PAD, which opposes Thaksin.
Allegations about the “Finland conspiracy” have never been proven, but it is known that Thaksin has visited Finland and Finnish Lapland several times. This is confirmed by the Finnish Ambassador to Thailand Lars Backström.
“The rumour started when Thaksin visited Finnish Lapland along with some fellow politicians. During that trip, the gentlemen had discussed Thailand’s future”, Backström says by telephone from Bangkok.
“He [Thaksin] has a reindeer driving licence”, Backström reveals.
Backström says that he has followed the controversy concerning the “Finland declaration” in the Thai media since 2006, and reported on it to the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
“But it did not amount to anything more”, he says.
The Ambassador even asked Thaksin himself about the matter personally in 2006, when Thaksin visited Finland.
“He said that he had visited Lapland, but that no such discussions [on a Finland plan] had taken place”, Backström says.
According to information learned by Helsingin Sanomat, Thaksin had visited Finland enthusiastically already during his career as a businessman in the 1980s and 1990s. During his business trips he met Nokia management, and possibly with Finnish telecommunications operators.
According to Nokia, Thaksin made two “normal business visits” to Finland in 1992, and another one “in about the mid-1990s”, Nokia’s head of communications, Eija-Riitta Huovinen does not know if the visits included any excursions to Lapland.
“We have facilities for guests in Kuusamo, but I don’t know.”
Backström also cannot say where in Lapland Thaksin might have visited with his politician friends in the late 1990s. Reindeer driving licences can be acquired at numerous tourist destinations, in Saariselkkä, Rovaniemi, and Kuusamo, for instance.
Backström says that rumours of a “Finland plan” disappeared gradually from the pages of Thai newspapers, and the matter is no longer topical.
However, Chadaporn Lin, the head of the news department and news anchor at a Thai television channel, says that the basic allegations of the “Finland plan” are still believed among circles opposed to Thaksin.
“This involves accusations in which Sondhi claims that Thaksin and several of his allies would have visited Finland and plotted to turn Thailand from a constitutional monarchy into a republic. PAD raised the issue, and called it the “Finland plan”, Chadaporn says by telephone from Bangkok.
Chadaporn works for ASTV, a station owned by media mogul Sondhi, an outspoken opponent of Thaksin.
“The Finland conspiracy is still popular within PAD. Considering the many things that have risen to the surface, I think that there is a grain of truth in the matter, and that the plan may have existed.”
According to Chadaporn, one factor that speaks in favour of the existence of a conspiracy is that people have emerged in Thaksin’s inner circle who want to erode the power of the monarchy in Thailand. Some of them are currently under indictment for lèse majesté.
“There is clear evidence and reports, according to which there have been statements during Thaksin’s meetings, which have been anti-King”, Chadporn says.
However, there is no conclusive evidence that the “Finland plan” would have been drawn up specifically in Finland.
“Someone who was taking part in the meeting [in Finland] is claimed to have told about the matter to PAD. However, this person did not want to come out with his own name, so the issue is largely hearsay.”
The rumours about a “Finland conspiracy”, which ebb and flow behind the political crisis in Thailand, reveal at least that in addition to alleged corruption in the Thai clique, the crisis also involves a power struggle between the monarchists and the republicans.
Thailand’s deeply loved King Bhumibol has ruled the country for 62 years. During his reign, the King has built a network of proteges, which has been a boon especially for civil servants and the well-to-do in urban areas.
However, there is no heir-apparent for the old King, who would enjoy popular support.
On the other hand, Thaksin and his allies are a threat to the monarchy, as they have used populist politics - and vote buying - to win the elections in Thailand several times in a row. The votes have come from rural areas, where most of the Thai people live.
“If something were to happen to the King, and the Prince were crowned, it is possible that the monarchy would not survive in Thailand”, says one Thai journalist to Helsingin Sanomat. He did not want his name published for fear of being charged with lèse majesté.
Therefore, the monarchists fear that after the King dies, Thailand might be turned into a republic, with Thaksin or one of his allies becoming the president.
Before that, the world’s strictest lèse majesté laws continue to be an effective political weapon in Thai politics.
“The political game here is truly tough. If you want to pull a rug out from under a competitor, that is a very effective weapon”, says Lars Backström.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 21.12.2008
JUKKA HUUSKO / Helsingin Sanomat
jukka.huusko@hs.fi
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| 23.12.2008 - THIS WEEK |
 “Finnish conspiracy” lurks behind political crisis in Thailand |
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