Word: samak
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Forget about any honeymoon. Just four months into his tenure, Thailand's Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is battling for his political life. For more than a month, thousands of street protesters have rallied in Bangkok, even besieging Government House last week and forcing the 73-year-old P.M. to sneak to work through a back door. On June 27, the veteran politician, who also moonlights as a television chef, suffered the indignity of a parliamentary no-confidence vote; although Samak's six-party coalition, which controls two-thirds of the lower house, shot down the motion by a vote...
...coup. (Thaksin, a billionaire tycoon, was subsequently banned from politics and now faces corruption charges, which he denies.) A year of uninspired army junta rule followed. In elections last December, voters, who had once handed Thaksin the largest mandate in recent Thai history, brought to power right-wing firebrand Samak, who through his People Power Party (PPP) openly campaigned as Thaksin's proxy. Although Samak has in recent weeks distanced himself from his polarizing predecessor, his cabinet teems with Thaksin acolytes. Thaksin's former spokesman is now Foreign Minister, while his brother-in-law is deputy prime minister. Three wives...
...less happy. The military, which went to the trouble of toppling him in 2006, surely is also irate over Thaksin's lingering shadow. (Thaksin himself has said he's done with politics, although his avowals have been rather less strenuous of late.) "It's a no-win situation for Samak," says Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. "If he stands for Thaksin, then he's seen as a stooge and that hurts his personal honor. If he distances himself, then he alienates Thaksin's support base, which is the reason he's in power...
...question of just how involved Thaksin and his dissolved political party are in the current government dominated this week's censure debate. Specifically, the opposition Democrat Party hinted that Samak was conniving to dismiss the corruption charges filed against Thaksin. But the criticism of the P.M. wasn't limited to his relationship with his predecessor. The Democrats also charged that Samak has mismanaged the economy and dented national sovereignty by supporting Cambodia's bid to procure UNESCO World Heritage status for an ancient Khmer temple located on land some Thais believe is theirs...
TIME: You campaigned as Thaksin's nominee, and... Samak: I did not mention that. Someone asked me: "Are you the nominee of Thaksin?" I said what's wrong with this word, "nominee?" What's wrong with this word...