Veteran right-wing Thai politician Samak Sundaravej dies

Nov 24, 2009, 3:40 GMT

   Bangkok - Former Thai prime minister Samak Sundaravej, who was forced out of office by a court ruling against his cooking programme in 2008, died Tuesday of liver cancer in a Bangkok hospital.

   The rotund, outspoken, Bangkok-born Samak, 74, was an supporter of the military and authoritarian government for most of his long career in politics.

   Samak became prime minister after the December 2007 general election and was continually accused by the opposition of being a proxy for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was deposed as premier in a bloodless military coup in September 2006 and is now a fugitive from a two-year jail sentence for abuse of power.

   Although protestors demanding Samak's resignation occupied his offices for weeks, he was eventually tripped up by a court ruling that found he had illegally moonlighted as a host of a TV cooking show while premier.

   He was replaced by Thaksin's brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat.

   Samak joined the Democrat Party in 1968 but quickly became associated with right-wing politics. He was accused of using his radio show to incite the 1976 massacre of students accused of being allegedly communist at Thammasat University. At least 46 students died when a mob broke into the university.

   He later became an apologist for the military crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators in 1992.

   Although widely distrusted in liberal circles, his sharp tongue and maverick stance on many issues made him popular with voters in the capital. His Prachakorn Party scooped up most Bangkok seats in elections in 1979 and 1983. From 2000 to 2004 he served as a somewhat lackluster governor of Bangkok.

   Samak's elevation to the post of prime minister for a few months in 2008 surprised most Thais but he remained respected for his elan, his ability to talk, his cheek and his relatively humble lifestyle.