Fugitive Thaksin tells Thailand’s red shirt opposition: "play dead"... for now

From self-imposed exile, the influential leader of Thailand’s rural "red shirt" opposition movement has delivered a simple message to followers chafing at the military junta’s iron rule: lay low for now, don’t panic, "play dead".

Billionaire former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, long-time political leader of the north’s disenfranchised electorate, is watching events at home closely and urging patience from those who want to see his allies return to power.

"When I spoke to Thaksin, he told me to pretend to be dead a little longer," red shirt leader Kwanchai Praipana, a popular pro-Thaksin leader in the northeastern province of Udon Thani, said.

"He told me to ... wait until the next election. That will be the moment that we will win. The only question is whether an election will ever take place."

Kwanchai said he spoke to Thaksin a month ago, though he did not specify how they communicated. Thaksin, who lives abroad to avoid a jail sentence for graft, was ousted in a coup in 2006, but remains a major figure in Thai politics.

While the military remains firmly in control since it felled the remnants of the government of Thaksin’s sister Yingluck in another coup last year, he and his allies have won every election since 2001 and anger is mounting among farmers and political opponents.