EX-THAI PREMIER SAMAK DIES

BY D. ARUL RAJOO

BANGKOK, Nov 24 (Bernama) -- Former Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, one of
Thailand's most colourful politicians who lost his premiership because of his
passion for cooking, died Tuesday at the age of 74.

The Kingdom's 25th prime minister died at the Bumrungrad Hospital this
morning after battling liver cancer the past several months.

The former Bangkok governor and a celebrity chef with his own TV shows, had
also been a Cabinet minister in the 1970s, but shot to prominence in 2007 when
he agreed to become leader of the People's Power Party (PPP).

The PPP was established by supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra after their Thai Rak Thai party was dissolved by Thailand's
Constitution Court for election fraud.
Samak, accused of being a proxy of Thaksin who was ousted in the Sept 2006
military coup, led the party to win the December 2007 general election and
became Thailand's 25th prime minister.

But his tenure was met with strong resistance from anti-Thaksin groups,
especially the yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) which held
massive street rallies.

In 2008, the PAD seized the Government House, forcing Samak to operate from
the military headquarters.

But it was the court that booted him out when the Constitutional Court ruled
that it was unconstitutional for him to continue his television cooking
programmes while being prime minister, and disqualified him.

Thaksin's brother-in-law Somchai Wongsawat replaced him, but the PAD went
further by closing down Bangkok's two major airports on Nov 26, 2008, and he and
PPP were disqualified a week later on another election fraud charge.
-- BERNAMA