Cabbie conspiracy - Currents - Brief Article

New Internationalist, May, 2002

'Why are oil the people who know how to run the country driving cabs?' goes the old joke. But Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is not amused by Bangkok's opinionated cabbies - and he's ordered an investigation into what he claims is a 'malicious campaign afoot in the city's taxi cabs' to discredit him. In his weekly radio address, Thaksin said his enemies were paying people to ride in cabs and gossip maliciously about him in the hope that the criticisms would spread.

Prommin Lertsuriyadej, the Prime Minister's secretary-general, said several taxi drivers had informed him about the smear campaign and that, the Government will toke legal action against anyone caught spreading rumours'. Critics soy that Thaksin is being paranoid.

Bankok Post