Thai king revokes Thaksin Shinawatra's royal decorations

Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn has revoked royal decorations awarded to ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a document published on Saturday in the royal gazette showed.

The king’s order came less than a week after a disputed election, in which a pro-Thaksin political party is seeking to form a “democratic front” against a party that wants to keep the leader of a 2014 military coup in power.

The royal gazette document said the king’s action was due to Thaksin’s guilty sentence in a corruption case in 2008 and his fleeing the country, which was “highly inappropriate behaviour,” the document said.

Last Saturday, the king also made an unexpected and cryptic statement on the eve of the March 24 election, recalling a comment made by his late father on the need to put “good people” in power and to prevent “bad people from ... creating chaos.”

- Reuters