Protesters turn in SIM cards seen linked to Yingluck’s family
Print Edition
Some Thai anti-government protesters followed the advice of their leader yesterday, shunning products of firms linked to the family of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and handing back cellphone SIM cards.
The protesters have blocked main Bangkok intersections with tents, tires and sandbags, seeking to unseat Yingluck and halt the influence of her billionaire brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, an ousted former premier regarded by many as the real power behind the government.
This week, they targeted businesses linked, or once linked, to the Shinawatra family, sending stock prices tumbling and yesterday some answered protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban’s call to return their SIM cards belonging to mobile phone company Advanced Info Service Pcl.
The company promptly sent a text message to clients saying it no longer had any connection with the Shinawatra family.
“AIS is not involved in politics and is not a pipeline for any side,” it said. “Dr Thaksin and family have already sold all shares in the company since 23 January, 2006, and from then are no longer connected with the company.”
Aunjit Wongsampan, 65, lined up in central Bangkok to hand in her SIM card.
“I think the signal is poor and I am changing it because the company is too wealthy,” she said.
When shown the company’s text message, she said: “I don’t believe them any more. I have made my choice.”
Yingluck’s supporters denounced the targeting of business when the protests have already taken a toll on the economy, on tourism in particular, with arrivals in Bangkok sharply down.
“What we don’t like right now is their involvement in threatening companies on the stock exchange that is not involved with government,” Tida Tawornseth, chairwoman of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), said: “It’s a move away from government into business.”
The UDD, a protest movement largely made up of “red shirt” Thaksin supporters based in the populous north and northeast, is holding a meeting of its leaders from across the country today in Nakhon Ratchasima, northeast of the capital.
Tida ruled out plans for violence. “If we wanted to clash, we would have done so a long time ago,” she said.
Property developer SC Asset’s share price lost 10 percent last week and mobile handset M-Link Asia Corp , also with links to the Shinawatras, lost 12 percent.
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