National —
Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra reneged on his promise to return home to Thailand on August 10th, citing the need for a medical check-up as his reason.
Thaksin, who currently lives in self-exile aboard, wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that he needed to postpone his return originally planned for next Thursday by a couple of weeks because he needed to meet with his doctor.
“I want to postpone my return to Thailand from August 10th by not more than two weeks. I will inform everyone of the date and time again. A doctor called me and asked me to undergo health check-ups,” Thaksin wrote on August 5th.
The fugitive ex-premier has spent several years in self-imposed exile, primarily residing in Dubai, to evade imprisonment following court convictions related to alleged corruption cases that he insisted were politically motivated.
The backtracking of his promise to return is not unusual, as Thaksin also recently delayed his plan to come back on his birthday last July.
Reports from Thai media outlets predict that Thaksin’s return will not happen until, or if, a new government led by Pheu Thai, a political party that he is closely associated with, is formed.
Thaksin has claimed that the decision to delay his return is not politically motivated or tied to the delayed decision for voting for the next Thai Prime Minister. Many prominent critics and politicians online, however, disagree with this statement and insist the true reason is the current ongoing political uncertainty.
