Thaksin Shinawatra, Thai businessman and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Thailand
Thaksin Shinawatra (Thai: ทักษิณ ชินวัตร; RTGS: Thaksin Chinnawat; pronounced [tʰák.sǐn t͡ɕʰīn.nā.wát]; Chinese: 丘達新; Montenegrin: Taksin Šinavatra; born 26 July 1949), also known by Thai netizens as Tony Woodsome, is a Thai businessman, politician and visiting professor. He served in the Thai Police from 1973 to 1987, and was the Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006.
Thaksin founded the mobile phone operator Advanced Info Service and the IT and telecommunications conglomerate Shin Corporation in 1987, ultimately making him one of the richest people in Thailand. He founded the Thai Rak Thai Party (TRT) in 1998 and, after a landslide electoral victory, became prime minister in 2001. He was the first democratically elected prime minister of Thailand to serve a full term and was re-elected in 2005 by an overwhelming majority.
Thaksin declared a "war on drugs" in which more than 2,500 people were killed. Thaksin's government launched programs to reduce poverty, expand infrastructure, promote small and medium-sized enterprises, and extend universal healthcare coverage. Thaksin took a strong-arm approach against the separatist insurgency in the Muslim southern provinces.
His decision to sell shares in his corporation for more than a billion tax-free dollars generated considerable controversy. A citizens' movement against Thaksin, called People's Alliance for Democracy or "Yellow Shirts", launched mass protests, accusing him of corruption, abuse of power, and autocratic tendencies. Thaksin called snap elections that were boycotted by the opposition and invalidated by the Constitutional Court.
Thaksin was overthrown in a military coup on 19 September 2006. His party was outlawed and he was barred from political activity. Thaksin has since lived in self-imposed exile except for a brief visit to Thailand in 2008. He was sentenced in absentia to two years in jail for abuse of power. From abroad he has continued to influence Thai politics, through the People's Power Party that ruled in 2008, and its successor organisation Pheu Thai Party, as well as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship or "Red Shirt" movement. His younger sister Yingluck Shinawatra was the prime minister of Thailand from 2011 to 2014.