‘Back to square one’? Thailand confronts ghosts of its past with Shinawatra restoration

That shocking electoral loss forced the Shinawatra clan to change its political clothes, with Pheu Thai now seen by critics as the underwriter of arch-royalist conservative elite interests – a far cry from its past as a pro-democracy outsider championing wealth-redistribution policies to the rural poor.

From 2001-2011, it earned three straight landslide election wins on the back of those policies. But now Pheu Thai leads a coalition of former enemies.

“Thaksin has shown this year that he is no political idealist but instead a political opportunist,” Paul Chambers, a politics expert and lecturer at Thailand’s Naresuan University, told This Week in Asia.

At 38, his daughter has broken records as the youngest person to hold top office in Thailand. But Paetongtarn faces a tough task proving to the Thai public that she carries the interests of more than just her family into office, and that she can control the kingdom’s warring elites.

But Prawit himself is now under fire. Thailand’s parliament said on Thursday it would investigate Prawit after he was seen in a video hitting ThaiPBS journalist Duangthip Yiamphop several times around the head as he left a building, demanding “What are you asking? What? What?”

The 79-year-old could potentially face suspension as an MP or even a lifetime ban if he is found guilty of a serious ethical violation. He has apologised to Duangthip, saying he “did not have any bad intention”.

Experts say Prawit’s inclusion, or not, in a Paetongtarn government could lead to other ramifications.

Analysts say this charge could be activated if old foes feel he is overreaching, while his daughter is now fronting a government whose policy outcomes may later be weaponised against her through the interventionist