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In exile ... Thaksin Shinawatra is prominent in Thai politics through messages from his bases in Dubai and Cambodia. Photo: AFPThe Sydney Morning Herald
Ousted in 2006, Thaksin Shinawatra still divides Thailand, writes Ben Doherty.
IT HAS been branded ''D-Day'' and ''the Final Showdown'', but the decision by a Thai court tomorrow on whether the fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra can keep nearly $2.5 billion in assets seized by the government is unlikely to resolve the political schism which divides Thailand. Instead, it is likely to deepen it and could trigger new waves of violence.
Bangkok is in virtual lockdown in anticipation of tomorrow's judgment, when the Supreme Court will rule whether Thaksin, the deposed former PM still loved by Thailand's rural poor but despised by the Bangkok elite, can have all, some or none of his seized assets back.
Thousands of soldiers and police are already in position at crucial posts across Bangkok and at entrances to the capital since busloads of protesters from the Thaksin-supporting north and north-east of the country are expected to be turned around at the city limits.
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