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Thursday, September 21, 2006

Singapore and Thailand

Singapore would seem to be the main party affected by Thaksin's recent demise:

Singapore could suffer the most among countries in the region from the military coup against Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai prime minister, who forged close ties with the city-state and sold his telecommunications group to Singapore’s state-investment company.

It was the $1.9bn sale of a 49 per cent in Shin Corp by Mr Thaksin’s family to Temasek Holdings in January that triggered the political crisis that led to the coup after it was revealed the family paid no taxes on profits from the deal.

Mr Thaksin was seen by Singapore as its strongest supporter for closer economic integration of the Association of South-east Nations, which provoked talk of a Singapore-Bangkok axis within the group.

The ousted leader also expressed admiration for Singapore’s political system, telling Singapore officials he wanted to model his Thai Rak Thai party on the long-ruling People’s Action party.

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