Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's surprise visit to Burma recently has held the belief that he wants to make a comeback to domestic politics, and to reclaim a leading role in regional politics, particularly the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
The sudden visit by the Kingdom's caretaker prime minister to Pyinmana, the new capital of military-ruled Burma, has sparked off rumours, speculation, and condemnation from various quarters.
Thaksin's visit coincidently was made on the same day that US President George W. Bush renewed the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 for another year.
President Bush wanted to send a message not only to the Burmese military junta regarding their country's poor democratic development and the violation of human rights, but also he wanted to indirectly request his Asean allies to help press Burma to give true democracy to its people.
Thaksin's visit to Burma came less than a week after Asean foreign ministers and their counterparts from Asian and western powers met in Kuala Lumpur, during which the Burmese regime was taken to task for its failure to fulfill its promises of democratic reforms.
Thailand has been one of the old members of Asean accused by the US and western democracies of not putting hard enough pressure on the Burmese military dictatorship.
Could Thaksin's surprise visit to Burma be part of an Asean effort to try to convince the military junta there to quicken its path of democratisation? Thaksin was reported to have telephoned Philippines President Gloria Arroyo, in her capacity as the chair of Asean before his visit. Thaksin also told reporters upon his return that he discussed many issues, ranging from social to economic and political concerns with Burma's top leader, Senior General Than Shwe.
However, political pundits pointed out that Thaksin was unlikely to stress in his talks with the General international community (Asean and western democratic countries) pressure on the democratisation process in that country.
Thaksin told reporters that he can not reveal in detail what he had discussed with the Burmese junta leader. He did not explain either why such a trip was so sudden and important.
Critics of the caretaker government said Thaksin's visit to Burma was more personal in nature and could possibly involve some secret business deal.
Thaksin flatly denied the accusation, saying that he had already sold all of his business interests (under Shin Group), and so did not touch on any personal business deals with the Burmese leader.
Even the caretaker ministers and the commander-in-chief of the army accompanying Thaksin did not know in advance about the sudden trip to the new capital of Burma.
Commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army, General Sondhi Bunyaraktaklin was reported to have felt uneasy in accompanying the caretaker prime minister to Burma. On that day, he (Sondhi) and Thaksin intended to go to the restive three southernmost provinces where Muslim militants planted bombs at nearly one hundred sites.
The trip was only half a day, and so there could not have been any substantive talks between the Thai caretaker ministers and the Burmese junta leaders. Only Thaksin and Senior General Than Shwe knew of the real issues they were talking about.
Disregarding what Thaksin may say later on his Burma mission, the trip is not appropriate owing to its sudden nature and because of the restive situation in the deep South which requires immediate attention.