Thaksin Shinawatra is a Thai businessman and politician. He served in the Thai Police from 1973 to 1987, and was the Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006.
Advanced Info Service Public Company Limited (AIS) is Thailand's largest GSM mobile phone operator with 39.87 million customers as of Q3 2016. Founded in April 1985, AIS started off as a computer rental business. In October 1990, it launched analog 900 MHz mobile phone services with a 20-year monopoly concession from the Telephone Organization of Thailand (TOT), and later became the first company allowed to operate on the GSM-900 frequency. It acquired Shinawatra Paging in June 1992.
Chaiyasit Shinawatra is a former commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Army.
Prem Tinsulanonda was a Thai military officer, politician, and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Thailand from 3 March 1980 to 4 August 1988, during which time he was credited with ending a communist insurgency and presiding over accelerating economic growth. As president of the Privy Council, he served as Regent of Thailand from the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on 13 October 2016 until 1 December 2016, when Vajiralongkorn was proclaimed King. At the age of 98, Prem was the longest-living Thai Prime Minister. He is also the oldest regent of any country, surpassing Bavarian Prince Regent Luitpold's record, when he became the regent for king Rama X.
Intouch Holdings PCL is a Thai holding company which focuses on the telecommunication industry. It is the parent company of Advanced Info Service (AIS), the largest mobile phone operator in Thailand, and Thaicom, Thailand's satellite operator. It is listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand and is part of SET50 index.
Panthongtae Shinawatra is the only son of former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He became a billionaire after having been given a large portion of his father's stock in Shin Corporation which transferred to him shortly before Thaksin ascended to the position of prime minister.
Thai Post is a daily Thai-language newspaper in Thailand. It is owned by the Thai Journal Group Co. Its circulation is in the 100,000-150,000 range. Currently the HQ is in Klong Toei, Bangkok.
Censorship in Thailand involves the strict control of political news under successive governments, including by harassment and manipulation.
Sonthi Boonyaratglin is a Thai former Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Army and former head of the Council for National Security, the military junta that ruled the kingdom. He was the first Muslim in charge of the army of the mostly Buddhist country. On 19 September 2006, he became the de facto head of government of Thailand after overthrowing the elected government in a coup d'état. After retiring from the Army in 2007, he became Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of national security.
The 2006 Thai coup d'état took place on 19 September 2006, when the Royal Thai Army staged a coup d'état against the elected caretaker government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The coup d'état, which was Thailand's first non-constitutional change of government in fifteen years since the 1991 Thai coup d'état, followed a year-long political crisis involving Thaksin, his allies, and political opponents and occurred less than a month before nationwide House elections were scheduled to be held. It has been widely reported in Thailand and elsewhere that General Prem Tinsulanonda, a key person in the military-monarchy nexus, Chairman of the Privy Council, was the mastermind of the coup. The military cancelled the scheduled 15 October elections, abrogated the 1997 constitution, dissolved parliament and the constitutional court, banned protests and all political activities, suppressed and censored the media, declared martial law nationwide, and arrested cabinet members.
Surayud Chulanont is a Thai politician. He was the Prime Minister of Thailand and head of Thailand's interim government between 2006 and 2008. He is a former supreme commander of the Royal Thai Army and is currently Privy Councilor to King Vajiralongkorn.
The domestic policy of Surayud Chulanont as Prime Minister of Thailand affected the Thai economy, human rights, education, and numerous other areas. Appointed Prime Minister by a military junta that overthrew the government of Thaksin Shinawatra, he has been praised for his efforts to reverse the policies of the Thaksin government and to reduce the role of foreigners in the Thai economy. However, his policies have been controversial, and he been accused of economic mismanagement, rampant human rights abuses, and allowing the escalation of the South Thailand insurgency.
TOT Public Company Limited is a Thai state-owned telecommunications company. Originally established in 1954 and corporatized in 2002, TOT used to be known as the Telephone Organization of Thailand and TOT Corporation Public Company Limited. TOT's main line of business is fixed line telephony, although it has several other businesses, including mobile telephony. Since 2021, TOT PCL become National Telecom Public Company Limited after merger with CAT Telecom.
Surapon Nitikraipot is a Thai professor of law, rector of Thammasat University, and an appointed member of the Thai military junta's National Legislative Assembly.
CAT Telecom Public Company Limited is the state-owned company that runs Thailand’s international telecommunications infrastructure, including its international gateways, satellite, and submarine cable networks connections. Since 2021 CAT Telecom became the National Telecom Public Company Limited after merging with TOT Public Company Limited.
People's Television (PTV) was a Thai satellite television station. It was established by former executives of the Thai Rak Thai party after the 2006 Thailand military coup overthrew the Thai Rak Thai-led government. It launched despite warnings from the Council for National Security, the military junta that seized power. PTV executives insisted that if ASTV could operate, then so could PTV.
The Taiwan Indigenous Television is a satellite cable channel in Taiwan devoted to indigenous issues and culture, launched on July 1, 2005, becoming the first such channel in Asia.
The Thai Public Broadcasting Service, or TPBS, is a public broadcasting service in Thailand. It was established by the Thai Public Broadcasting Service Act, BE 2551 (2008), which came into force on 15 January 2008. Under this act, TPBS holds the status of state agency with legal personality, but is not a government agency or state enterprise.
The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), whose supporters are commonly called Red Shirts, is a political pressure group opposed to the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the 2006 Thai coup d'état, and supporters of the coup. Notable UDD leaders include Jatuporn Prompan, Nattawut Saikua, Veera Musikapong, Jaran Ditapichai, and Weng Tojirakarn. The UDD allies itself with the Pheu Thai Party, which was deposed by the 2014 military coup. Before the July 2011 national elections, the UDD claimed that Abhisit Vejjajiva's government took power illegitimately, backed by the Thai Army and the judiciary. The UDD called for the Thai Parliament to be dissolved so that a general election could be held. UDD accused the country's extra-democratic elite—the military, judiciary, certain members of the privy council, and other unelected officials—of undermining democracy by interfering in politics. The UDD is composed of mostly rural citizens from northeast (Isan) and north Thailand, of urban lower classes from Bangkok, and of intellectuals. Although the movement seems to receive support from former prime minister-in-exile Thaksin Shinawatra, not all UDD members support the deposed prime minister.
