THAILAND: Capitalist. Autocrat. Populist. Tycoon. The labels critics assign to Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra are many and can be unflattering.
But the self-styled "CEO premier" won new respect yesterday after calling a snap election for April 2nd in a surprise counter-attack against critics campaigning for his removal.
"Whatever the outcome will be, I am ready to face it," said Mr Thaksin, dressed in a dark suit and seated at a desk flanked by national flags, in an televised address.
Only a year ago, Mr Thaksin, the only elected prime minister to finish a four-year term in Thailand's history, looked unassailable after winning a second landslide election victory.
The 56-year-old billionaire had made good on a platform of cheap healthcare and handouts for the rural masses that swept him to power in 2001. But corruption scandals and alleged abuses of power eroded his popularity among Bangkok's middle class.
Their simmering anger exploded last month when Mr Thaksin's relatives sold their $1.9 billion (€1.6 billion) stake in Shin Corp, the telecoms empire he founded, to a Singapore state company. The tax-free deal outraged many taxpayers, while the sale of assets, including satellites, to foreigners fuelled national security concerns.
Thousands called for Mr Thaksin's removal at two major rallies in Bangkok this month, and organisers hoped to draw 100,000 to another tomorrow to force him out. The stakes were raised after Mr Thaksin's political mentor, Chamlong Srimuang (a former army general who led bloody 1992 protests against Thailand's last military government), joined the campaign, raising fears that the rally could turn violent.
Mr Thaksin's opponents, including a former business partner, students and anti-privatisation groups, have vowed to force him out of politics. But analysts said the wily premier may have put his critics on the back foot by calling an election three years early.
"His critics may continue demanding his resignation, but that will now carry less weight," said Thanavath Phonvichai, an economist at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
Born into a family of ethnic Chinese silk merchants in 1949 in the northern city of Chiang Mai, Mr Thaksin became a policeman in 1973 before winning a state scholarship to study for a masters degree in criminal justice at Eastern Kentucky University.
He earned a doctorate in that subject from Sam Houston State University in Texas five years later, and then taught at the Thai police cadet academy.
In 1987, he went into business, establishing a computer dealership with his wife, Potjaman, that started selling hardware to the police force. The company evolved into Shin Corp, a conglomerate with interests ranging from mobile phones to satellites, the internet and the media.
A corruption inquiry dogged him until he convinced investigators he made an "honest mistake" in failing to declare millions of dollars of shares transferred to his domestic staff. Despite the latest poll, which shows his popularity falling to 34.5 per cent this month, rural voters who benefited from his government's largesse are expected to return Mr Thaksin to power.